Emergency legislation rushed through the Oireachtas to ensure that adults can be prosecuted for soliciting sexual acts from children was signed into law last night after it passed through the Seanad yesterday.
The legislation was signed by the Presidential Commission in the absence of President Mary McAleese, who is on a private holiday in Slovenia. The Presidential Commission is made up of the Chief Justice, the Ceann Comhairle and Cathaoirleach of the Seanad.
Earlier yesterday the Seanad passed all stages of the legislation, the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Amendment Bill, under which adult offenders face up to five years in jail.
The Bill - introduced after the Labour Party highlighted a legal loophole following last year's Supreme Court ruling on underage sex - passed through the Dáil after a two-hour debate on Tuesday night.
A new offence of meeting a child, or travelling to meet a child for the purposes of sexual exploitation - known as grooming - is created under the new law.
Under this offence anyone within the State who intentionally meets or travels with the intention of meeting a child for sex, having communicated with that child twice or more beforehand, could face 14 years in prison.
The new legislation was last night welcomed by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre which, however, expressed concerns about its "'rushed nature". Chief executive Ellen O'Malley-Dunlop said wording to change the Constitution and to offer a zone of strict liability for the protection of our children against the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of sexual offences was published recently.
However, rather than hold a referendum, political parties had called for more time to debate the issues. While it supported debate, the Rape Crisis Centre was worried that with the impending election, the whole issue of protection of children would be left off the agenda.
"In the meantime, as demonstrated by this recent crisis, our children are left vulnerable," Ms O'Malley-Dunlop said.
The Rape Crisis Network Ireland also welcomed the new legislation and the introduction of the offence of grooming. However, it said the legislation was no substitute for the urgent necessity to comprehensively review legislative protection for children.
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