Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 511: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the progress made in regard to the commitment given in the Programme for Government to create a new offence of supplying and administering date rape drugs. [19340/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Section 12 of the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act 1997 makes it an offence for a person to intentionally or recklessly administer to, or cause another to take, a substance which he or she knows to be capable of interfering substantially with the other person's bodily functions and where he or she knows the person does not consent to what is being done. Section 12(2) of that Act provides that a substance capable of inducing unconsciousness or sleep is capable of interfering substantially with bodily functions. The need for any further measures in the light of the commitment in the Programme for Government 2007-2012 to create a new offence of supplying and administering 'date rape' drugs is under consideration.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 512: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the progress made in regard to the commitment given in the Programme for Government to provide for the forfeiture of all material gains from the production, sale and distribution of illegal pornography. [19341/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The Proceeds of Crime Act 1996 and the Criminal Assets Bureau Act 1996 both of which are amended by the Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Act 2005, provide for the recovery and disposal of the proceeds of crime. This may include the confiscation, restraint of use, freezing, preservation or seizure of assets identified as deriving, or suspected to derive directly or indirectly, from criminal activity. The need to take further measures in light of the commitment in the Programme for Government 2007-2012 to provide for the forfeiture of all material gains from the production, sale and distribution of illegal pornography is also under consideration.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 514: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the progress made in regard to the commitment given in the Programme for Government to introduce a Sexual Offences Bill which will consolidate and modernise all criminal law in the area of sexual offences. [19343/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I am preparing a Sexual Offences Bill which will provide greater protection to children and other vulnerable persons against sexual abuse and exploitation. The Bill is at an advanced stage of preparation and it is hoped to publish a General Scheme before the summer. As the Deputy is aware, the Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children is presently examining the Bill amending the Constitution published last year and expects to report to the Oireachtas by the end of November. This deals, inter alia, with important matters that arose from the decision of the Supreme Court in the C.C. case and it is likely that further legislation will be necessary to give effect to the Committee's recommendations. As soon as those two pieces of legislation are enacted, we will have a modern set of criminal laws governing sexual offences. However, it is only at that point that the question of consolidation will arise.