The Government is expected to finalise proposals today for the establishment of a special cross-party Oireachtas committee to review child protection laws in the wake of the controversy over statutory rape laws.
It comes amid continuing criticism about the emergency laws introduced earlier this month by the Government to replace the 1935 laws that were struck down by the Supreme Court as being unconstitutional.
The proposals are to be put to Opposition parties as early as tomorrow afternoon, although there has been no commitment by them to co-operate with the new ad-hoc committee.
Both Labour and Fine Gael have been pushing for the new committee to be chaired by an Opposition politician and the parties will resist co-operating with the committee unless its terms of reference will allow for significant Opposition input into formulating changes to the laws.
The committee is expected to hold a series of hearings and meetings in private and public and will report back to the Oireachtas and Government in the autumn.
The Labour Party has already criticised the emergency laws as being potentially unconstitutional as they discriminate between genders. Girls under 17 years of age cannot be found guilty of unlawful carnal knowledge under the Act, although boys under 17 can.
Last week the Government rejected this, although the Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said last Thursday that he had serious concerns about aspects of the law relating to the defence of reasonable doubt.
He said the current emergency law, which he steered through, made it easier to prosecute a male in a consensual teenage sexual relationship with a similarly-aged girl compared with a much older stranger who could use the defence about being unsure of the girl's age.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Children Brian Lenihan is to outline further details of proposals made by the Taoiseach last week on new procedures aimed at creating a comprehensive early warning system for legal challenges that could have a significant impact on existing legislation.
He will also give further details on the proposed appointment of a special rapporteur to advise the Government on legislation, ongoing legal issues and their potential impact on child protection. The rapporteur, will be asked to audit legal developments for the protection of children and to assess what impact, if any, litigation in national and international courts will have on child protection.