Child protection laws inadequate, says FG

[Byrner]

Fine Gael says Ireland's child protection laws are inadequate and need to be overhauled.

Spokesperson on Children Alan Shatter was speaking after a man who had consensual sexual intercourse with a then 13-year-old girl became the first person to be found not guilty by a jury because of his stated belief that she was over 17 at the time.

The now 27-year-old man, referred to as Mr K, was the first person to offer the defence of believing that his alleged victim was old enough to legally consent to sexual intercourse in October 2001.

He denied sexually assaulting the girl after they had consumed alcohol. A jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court took less than an hour to acquit him of the charge yesterday.

Reacting to the verdict, Mr Shatter said the law in this area could only be properly reformed if a Constitutional referendum took place to restore an offence of absolute liability in such circumstances.

He said the case highlighted the inadequacies of Ireland's child protection laws.

News Source: http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0424/children.html

[mandy]

I agree the law needs to be updated and also kids need to have alot more information to make them aware of what is going on out there education is a powerfull thing. But here's something else to think about, look around the next time your out of an evening an see how many young girls are out and you guess there age some kids with a bit of makeup can pass for over 16 and that is frightening for young guy's out there now looking to date.

[shirl]

I agree they need to be updated,I think theres a bit more to this story though.The girl mentioned did consent although too young to know what she was getting in to,the guy at 20 would in my opinion have been to immature to cop on.

[Paddy Shoot]

To be honest whne guys are out drinking do they really care what age the girl is ?. To be honest a guy should be able to tell the difference between a girl of 13 and 18 or whatever. What is going to happen because of this case is that guys just have to say I thought she was older to get away with having sex with kids. I think this is wrong, young girls have to be protected by the law, and it looks to me as if they have been let down.

[mandy]

The law did let this girl down and it will have to change because society is changing I just had this conversation with my son who is 19 and 5 of his friends and they all have said sometimes it can be hard to tell especially if they have a drink or two if they haven't they can tell by the conversation they have with the girl or she will let it slip. I remember a friend of mine called Mary telling her boyfriend she was 17 when she was really just turning 15 and she didn't tell him until it was her 16 and her mother invited him to the tea party, I have to say they are married with 2 kids now but at the time she looked about 18 do you remember her Shirley. This is a very dangerous grey area and I think young people should be taught in school how to notice the difference. At work your giving training to notice people who are under the legal age why cant the school's do the same thing with social studies.