The chair of the Oireachtas committee responsible for agreeing a wording on the referendum on children's rights is to ask the Taoiseach to avoid holding an early poll on the issue.
Some senior Cabinet ministers are keen to hold a "mini" child protection referendum this summer on the same day as the Lisbon Treaty.
The proposed change to the Constitution would strengthen the law against adults who have sex with minors by introducing a "strict liability" offence and removing the defence of "honest mistake" as to a person's age.
However, The Irish Times understands that Mary O'Rourke TD, who chairs the Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution, will recommend to the Taoiseach this week that holding two referendums on the same day would be a serious mistake.
Speaking to The Irish Times yesterday, she said: "Neither Lisbon nor the children's issue would be well-served by mingling them together. These are hugely important and complicated issues."
Ms O'Rourke said the view held held by some Cabinet Ministers and Fine Gael that a simple referendum could strengthen our child protection laws was a simplistic one. "This is much more complicated than just a 'yes' or 'no' issue. If we deal with this issue, we have to deal with the age of consent as well, which there are differing views on. "This is not just about filling a gap left by the 'C' case. It will bring in its wake much, much more. We have only touched on this issue peripherally in the committee's work so far."
The idea of a mini-referendum on child protection was originally put forward by Fine Gael, who said a gap in our rape laws exposed in the "Mr C" case needed to be filled urgently.
This case sparked a political emergency after a conviction of statutory rape against a 23-year-old man who had sex with a 14-year-old was deemed unconstitutional as it did not allow a defence of "honest mistake" as to a girl's age.
The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has said he is considering the matter of an early referendum. Some members of the Cabinet have also voiced support for such a move, partly on the basis it could improve voter turnout for the Lisbon Treaty.
A Government decision is expected in the coming weeks.
Support groups which deal with rape victims have expressed support for an early referendum.
However, many of the 140 submissions from lobby groups and non-governmental organisations to the Oireachtas committee considering the issue are strongly opposed to an early referendum.
In her submission, Ombudsman for Children Emily Logan says isolating this part of the children's referendum could mean that other important children's rights are delayed.
Children's rights organisations such as Barnardos and the Children's Rights Alliance also fear the political momentum behind recognising the rights of children in the Constitution may be lost if the referendum is split in two.
A number of groups have also expressed deepening concern over plans to introduce the offence of strict liability, an issue on which there was previously widespread agreement. For example, the Children at Risk in Ireland (Cari) Foundation says such a law could criminalise consensual sex among teenagers.
Other submissions show differing attitudes over wider issues such as children's rights. The Iona Institute says care must be taken to ensure it does not give the State unnecessary powers of intervention at the expense of the family.
