The Government has rejected Opposition demands for an independent inquiry into the Attorney General's office's handling of court challenges to the State's rape laws. Mark Hennessy, Political Correspondent, reports.
However, Fine Gael, buoyed up by Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats' unease, will continue to lay heavy pressure in pursuit of such an inquiry when the Dáil meets on Wednesday and Thursday,
Last night the Government said a Department of Finance official would review the files to discover why Attorney General Rory Brady was not told that a court challenge had begun in 2002 to the State's statutory rape laws, before it was transferred to the Supreme Court in 2004.
Slowly increasing the pressure on the Attorney General, who is a close ally of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny demanded "a forensic, independent" investigation, while former Fine Gael leader Michael Noonan warned that the crisis could result in Mr Brady's resignation.
Rejecting demands for a full inquiry, Minister for Finance Brian Cowen said comparisons between the handling of the Fr Brendan Smyth and Anthony Duggan extradition cases in the early 1990s, which led to the collapse of the Fianna Fáil/Labour coalition in 1994, were "totally absurd".
The officials "concerned should have notified people to let them know [ the case] was going ahead", he acknowledged, but he insisted the failure to pass on this information to the Attorney General had had "no practical effect on the outcome".
Following the Fr Smyth crisis, a review of the Attorney General's Office ordered the introduction of an early warning system to ensure that "all important and sensitive cases, including cases involving extradition and minors, should be brought to the immediate personal attention of the Attorney General".
Speaking on RTÉ's Week in Politics programme last night, Mr Cowen said: "I am saying that there are lessons to be learned, but the important point is that the case would not have been run any differently and the outcome wouldn't have been any different - quite apart from the fact that there was a human error in the system itself."
However, the Government may have to concede some ground on an inquiry into the Attorney General because it needs to get the Opposition to agree to take part quickly in an all-party review of the State's laws concerning sexual activities involving young people.
Meanwhile, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern has said a referendum should be held to ensure that adults charged with having sexual intercourse with a minor are not able to claim they did not know the age of the child.
The referendum would reinstate the 1935 law banning the so-called "honest mistake" defence, which the Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional nearly two weeks ago.
The referendum proposal should be "seriously considered", he said, though he emphasised it would need to be a joint recommendation from an all-party Oireachtas committee if it were to have the maximum chance of success.
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Michael McDowell is to seek to hold discussions before the Dáil's summer recess on the need for longer-term legislation with the Oireachtas Justice, Equality, Law Reform, Defence and Women's Rights committee, which is chaired by Fianna Fáil TD Seán Ardagh.
Some homosexual acts involving older men and boys aged under 17 that were illegal up to last week have been decriminalised by the Government's rushed legislation.
Up to now, the law meant that adults could be prosecuted for engaging in grossly indecent acts with 15/17-year-old boys, even if the boy had given his consent to the activities.
However, the legislation rushed through by Mr McDowell offers more limited protection.