Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 33:

In page 17, between lines 17 and 18, to insert the following:“22. The Act of 1908 is amended by the substitution of the following section for section 1 and 2:

“1. Any person of or above the age of 17 years who has carnal knowledge of a person, who to his or her knowledge is his or her parent, child, brother, sister, grandparent or grandchild shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for life or a lesser term of imprisonment.”.”.

This amendment applies to two sections which deal with the same issue.This amendment proposes to make the offence gender neutral. The offence is split by gender, assigning a dominant role to the male and a passive role to the female. The penalties are much lighter for female offenders but are being equalised now. The problem is that males may be tried for incest from the age of 12 years and females from 17 years. As such, it appears that males and females are not treated equally regarding their intentional capacity under the Bill. We just wanted to point out this anomaly to the Minister of State. It needs to be addressed. If that is not done here, it could be challenged at a later stage.