David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I understand what the Minister of State is saying to the effect that we are bringing these things into alignment with international law. On the other hand, there is nothing to prevent him from taking out the word "child" and putting in "a person of such and such", which would remove the apparent contradiction. It does look like a contradiction. I would say that if in international law one has a situation where children are defined differently all over the place, then that is absurd as well. Why not call it absurdity? It is not just absurdity if it occurs in this jurisdiction. If it occurs throughout Europe, it is even more absurd, in my opinion, that children are classed as being such at different ages depending on what section of the law at which one looks. A child is a child is a child just as a rose is a rose is a rose. It seems to me to be utterly daft to have different definitions of what a child is in terms of his or her age. If in one section a child is somebody under the age of 15, then how can it be that somebody under the age of 18 is a child in the next section? It seems to me to be absurd. I am not going to push the matter but I think it is absolute nonsense.