Harney admits 'information deficit' in rape case

Tánaiste Mary Harney has admitted to an "information deficit" over the case that prompted the Supreme Court to strike down the State's laws on statutory rape last week.

Speaking in the Dáil this morning, Ms Harney confirmed the House would sit next Wednesday to debate new legislation following a separate case yesterday when the High Court's freed a 41-year-old man, known as "Mr A", who was convicted under statutory rape laws in 2004 for having sex with a 12-year-old girl.

Enda Kenny: Government

The Supreme Court ruled last week that Section 1.1 of the 1935 Criminal Law (Amendment) Act was unconstitutional because the individual involved could not claim he honestly believed the victim in that case was older or that he had made an honest mistake. The girl in the case was 15.

Standing in for Bertie Ahern during questions to the Taoiseach today, Ms Harney made her comments in response to questioning by Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte.

Ms Harney told the Dáil she shared the "outrage" at the release of "Mr A".

She said that that in November or December 2002 the Department of Justice was informed by the Chief State Solicitor's Office that the Supreme Court action was being taken but "there was no information thereafter."

In a further response to a query by Mr Kenny, Ms Harney said neither Minister for Justice Michael McDowell nor the Attorney General had "any personal knowledge" of the case.

However, she did say that had new legislation been introduced at this point that "any changes in law would not have had any retrospective effect in terms of people who had already been convicted."

Mr Kenny went on to say that the Government had also "failed miserably to anticipate, to be ready and to deal with the gaping hole in the legislation that now exists."

Mr Kenny asked if this was not "an incredible situation that the Attorney General whose office was dealing with this [case] with the DPP and who sits at the cabinet table and who is in constant contact with the Government ... would not have been aware that this case was proceeding through the Supreme Court?"

He asked, that ahead of last week's Supreme Court judgement, if the Government should not have had emergency legislation in place "to plug the loophole in the law for the future as distinct from not being able to deal retrospectively with that section that was struck down by the Supreme Court?"

Questioning Mr McDowell's claim that his department had not been aware that the constitutionality of the law dealing with sex with minors was under threat Mr Kenny asked: "Does the Minister for Justice not know actually what's going on here?"

"Last night he said on television that the DPP continued to lay charges under section 1.1 of the 1935 act until recent weeks but on Monday during the hearing of Mr A's case the court was told that the

DPP had not sought to proceed with statutory rape indictments and trials had been stayed by consent since last summer pending last week's judgement,'" Mr Kenny said claimed.

Mr Kenny questioned how it was that "all the officers of both departments weren't aware of this," as details of the case were reported in the Irish Timeslast July and reported by The Law Gazettein October.

Likening Mr McDowell to Britain's Charles Clarke "who was now kicking his heels on the back benches", Mr Rabbitte said "if he did not know about the A case, he ought to have known".

Ms Harney added that she would seek clarification from the Department of Justice on figures relating to the numbers of people convicted under a section of the 1935 Criminal Law (Amendment) Act which punishes those convicted of having sex with girls under 17 with lesser penalties than the repealled Section 1.1 of the Act which provides for severe penalties for those convicted of having sex with girls under 15.

Sinn Féin's spokesman on children's rights, Caoimghín Ó Caoláin, called on the Government to contact the families of all the young victims of sex offenders that could possibly be released as a result of the Supreme Court judgement on the 1935 legislation.

He said these families should not have to hear about the issue from the media.

"There is deep anger that a self-confessed sex offender would walk free from jail because of a failure on the part of the Oireachtas. It is vital that legislation is introduced as quickly as possible. There is no reason why such legislation cannot be brought forward in the coming days," he said. "Minister McDowell should have known about this problem and should have prepared the appropriate legislation to deal with it. His claim that neither he nor his Department were aware of the constitutional challenge is incredible."

The Green Party proposed what it said was a simple amendment to close the loophole in the 1935 legislation, found last week to be unconstitutional.

It would involve amending the statute to make it an offence for anyone to have unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl whom he "knows or has reason to believe is" under 15.

Justice spokesman Ciarán Cuffe said this would address "the immediate crisis in our legal system".

"More time can then be spent legislating for less pressing issues such as establishing a uniform age of consent."

He said the Minister for Justice must produce a Bill today to address the "gaping hole" in the legislation and must also clarify what information he had in his possession on this legal challenge and when he acquired it.