The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, is to review the penalties for sexual offences after a meeting yesterday with Ms Sorcha McKenna, daughter of convicted paedophile Vincent McKenna.
Ms McKenna (19) said she was happy with the outcome of the meeting, which involved the Minister and several members of her family. She said Mr O'Donoghue agreed to review the sentences available to judges in all sexual offence cases.
It is understood from sources in the Department of Justice that the review will begin shortly and that Mr O'Donoghue agreed with Ms McKenna it was an area that needed to be looked at urgently. Last month, Ms McKenna's father, who campaigned for human rights in Northern Ireland, was jailed for three years on 31 counts of indecent assault on her over an eight-year period.
Ms McKenna expressed shock and anger at the sentence while several rape crisis groups said the whole area of sentencing needed to be looked at.
"I was quite happy with the meeting and the Minister has at least agreed to have a look at the area. He told me he was looking at several ideas at the moment and would be looking in depth at the area over the next few months," she said.
Ms McKenna has called on the Director of Public Prosecutions to appeal the leniency of the sentence. The DPP has to make such a decision within 21 days and this period expires on Monday. It is understood Mr O'Donoghue told Ms McKenna he had no function in this area.
Ms McKenna favours mandatory 10-year sentences for convicted sex offenders and gave the Minister a petition with about 100,000 signatures, mainly from third-level students, supporting her stance.