New offences of grooming of children and child sex abuse, and a maximum life sentence for people in authority who abuse children under the age of 18, are proposed in an Oireachtas report to be published today.
The report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Child Protection also proposes a raft of measures aimed at taking pressure off young witnesses in child sex abuse cases, including the establishment of regional Garda child protection units.
The report, carried out in the wake of the statutory rape controversy in the summer, calls for confidential and non-threatening facilities for young victims in abuse cases and says all new Garda stations should be built with video recording facilities for the interviewing of child victims.
The committee will propose a reduction in the age of consent from 17 to 16, but it says the age of consent of people in authority, such as sports coaches, should be 18. The defence of mistaken age cannot be open to people of authority and the maximum penalty should be life imprisonment, the report says.
Consensus on the age of consent was not reached with Fine Gael members, including spokesman on justice, Jim O'Keeffe, pressing to keep the age at 17. It was agreed on a majority vote.
The 120-page report also recommends that the Garda should be given powers to warn creches and clubs if a person applying for a job had been accused of abusing a child, even if the applicant was never convicted. Currently, the Garda's Thurles-based Central Vetting Unit can only reveal whether or not a job applicant has been convicted, but this offers inadequate protection for children, the committee believes.
About 20 of the 50 recommendations in the committee's report deal with criminal justice procedures involving child sex abuse crimes in an effort to ease the burden on children who are giving evidence in court. These recommendations include that facilities be available in divisional Garda headquarters to enable identity parades be conducted without a child being visible to suspects; the removal of wigs and gowns by barristers to reduce the possibility of young victims feeling intimidated; and screens in court so children can give evidence out of sight of an accused.
One of the committee's key functions was to examine if there needed to be an addition to the Constitution on the rights for the protection of children after a Supreme Court judgment found that a man could argue that he had genuinely believed that a girl was old enough to offer consent for sex.
Chaired by Peter Power TD (FF), the committee began deliberating in September. It includes Minister for Justice Michael McDowell, Minister of State for Children Brian Lenihan, Labour spokesman on justice Brendan Howlin, and Mr O'Keeffe. It is the first time Ministers have been nominated to serve as members of an Oireachtas committee, indicating the delicate political nature of the issue.
About 50 groups made written submissions to the committee including the Children's Rights Alliance, a coalition of 80 lobby groups. Oral submissions were made by the DPP; the Ombudsman for Children; Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy; two special rapporteurs on children's rights appointed by the Government, solicitor Geoffrey Shannon and Prof Finbarr McAuley of UCD.