New legislationThe proposed new law prohibiting sex with children, to be debated in the Oireachtas today, makes it illegal to have sex with boys as well as girls, and allows for a defence of mistake as to the age of the child.
It differs from the previous law on statutory rape in that, as well as prohibiting sexual intercourse with girls, it also prohibits buggery and all the forms of sexual assault described in the 1990 Criminal Law (Rape) (Amendment) Act, which include oral and anal sex without consent and rape with objects.
Life imprisonment is reinstated as the maximum sentence available for those convicted of sex, or attempted sex, with a child under 15.
For those who engage in sex with a child under 17 the maximum penalty is five years, but this increases to 10 years if the person is "a person in authority". This includes parents, step-parents, guardians, grandparents, uncles or aunts, a person in loco parentis or a person responsible for the education, supervision or welfare of the victim.
If a person commits a second offence, then the maximum penalty rises to 10 and 15 years respectively.
An attempt to engage in sex with a child under 17 carries a sentence of up to two years for a first offence, which is doubled for a person in authority, and four and seven years respectively for a second attempted sexual act with a child under 17.
The defence of honest belief that the child was older than the statutory age is available to an accused person. However, the court will have to consider whether or not there are "reasonable grounds" for such a belief.
It will not be possible for a person accused of sex with a child under 17 to argue in court that the child consented.
Turning to the question of sex between teenagers, the proposed Bill states that no criminal proceedings will be brought against a child under the age of 17 except with the consent of the DPP.
The Bill also provides for summary trial in the District Court where the offence is minor, the accused does not object to being tried without a jury, and the DPP consents to the summary trial. If the person is tried in the District Court, the maximum penalty is a €5,000 fine or a year in jail.
A distinction between girls and boys is made in Section 5 of the Bill, which states that a female child under 17 who engages in sexual intercourse is not guilty of an offence.
This means that pregnant girls or young mothers of 16 or 17 could not be arrested either in maternity hospitals or wheeling their prams. But it means that their boyfriends can face arrest and the prospect of a heavy sentence.