Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This group of amendments relates to the offences in the Bill addressing the sexual exploitation of children.

Amendment No. 1 to section 10 of the Bill provides for the repeal of sections 3(2)(a) and 3(2)(b) of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act, 1998. Section 3(2)(a) of the 1998 Act contains an offence of travelling to meet a child for the purposes of the sexual exploitation of that child having met or communicated with that child on two or more previous occasions. This offence will be replaced and strengthened by section 7 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015. Under that section, making arrangements to meet a child for the purpose of sexual exploitation of that child will also be an offence. Also under section 7, a single prior communication with the child will be sufficient to trigger an offence. Section 3(2)(b) provides for a similar offence of travelling to meet a child, however this offence applies to Irish citizens or persons habitually resident in the State who, while outside the State, travel to meet a child for the purpose described. This offence will now be covered under the the Sexual Offences (Jurisdiction) Act, 1996 by way of amendment to that Act in section 40 of this Bill.

Amendment No. 2 to section 11 of the Bill provides for offences relating to child prostitution and child pornography by way of inserting a new section, section 4(a), into the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act, 1998. The penalty for an offence under this section is a fine or a term of imprisonment of up to 14 years. The amendment will allow both a fine and a period of imprisonment to be imposed. It is common in crimes which involve financial motivation, such as those contained in section 11, that a financial penalty may also be imposed. This is also in line with the penalty structures for the existing offences contained under sections 4, 5 and 6 of the 1998 Act.

Amendments Nos. 65 to 68, inclusive, add offences created under the Bill to the schedules attached to existing legislation for the purposes of the provisions of those Acts. Legislation is amended as follows.

Amendment No. 65 adds offences to the schedule of the Criminal Justice (Withholding of Information on Offences against Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012. Schedule 1 of that Act lists offences against children in relation to which it would be an offence under that Act to withhold information. The amendments to section 1 propose adding a number of the new offences created under the Bill. Schedule 2 of the 2012 Act lists offences against vulnerable persons in relation to which it would be an offence under that Act to withhold information. The offence under section 21 of engaging in a sexual act with a protected person and the offence under section 22 by persons in authority are also to be added to the schedule.

Amendment No. 66 adds references to some of the offences created by the Bill to the schedule to the Taxi Regulation Act 2013. A conviction for an offence listed in part 1 of the schedule gives rise to mandatory life disqualification from holding a taxi licence. A conviction for an offence listed in part 2 of the schedule gives rise to mandatory disqualification for a specified period. The effect of these amendments will be that a person convicted of the offence of engaging in a sexual act with a protected person under section 21 of the Bill will be disqualified for life from holding a taxi licence and a person convicted of certain other offences created by the Bill will be disqualified for a certain period from holding a taxi licence.

Amendment No. 67 makes various changes to the Children First Act 2015 on foot of the other provisions of the Bill. That Act imposes certain obligations on those working with children to protect them from harm, which includes sexual abuse. The intention of these amendments is to bring some of the child-related offences created by the Bill within the definition of sexual abuse. This is done by adding the offences to Schedule 3 of that Act.

Amendment No. 68 makes changes to the Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions and Certain Disclosures) Act 2016. That Act limits the effect of certain criminal convictions by allowing them to be effectively spent after a specified period. Some sexual offences listed in part 2 of Schedule 1 are excluded from the Act so that a conviction for one of those offences will not be deemed spent at a future time. Paragraph (b) of this amendment will add some of the offences created by the Bill to part 2 of Schedule 1.