Government reaction: Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said that he had never believed the Supreme Court's original ruling in the CC case, which led to the temporary release of a man jailed for the rape of a 12-year-old after he had plied her with drink, would result in general releases for other convicted paedophiles.
Dismissing some of last month's controversy as "a furore", Mr Ahern said: "I did not think that that would happen anyway."
The lengthy judgments from the five Supreme Court justices would need to be carefully studied, he said.
Mr Ahern said the judgments "clarifies the general position in relation to people who were previously convicted under the legislation that was struck down".
Those already "convicted will now not be able to claim that they should be released on the basis of the CC judgment", where an 18-year-old jailed for having sex with a 14-year-old claimed that his legal rights were impaired because he was not allowed to argue in court that he was mistaken about her age.
While he had never accepted fears that dozens of paedophiles would be released, Mr Ahern said the Supreme Court's ruling had, nevertheless, created "a very satisfactory position".
"The important thing is that the Supreme Court's judgment is now there and that it clarifies the position to people's satisfaction," he told journalists in Dublin.
The Director of Public Prosecutions will have to decide independently the charges he will prefer against men who were charged with having unlawful carnal knowledge before the A and CC judgments.
"The Director of Public Prosecutions can look at other charges and I am sure that that is what they will be doing.
"I can't say that it will happen definitely because it is a decision for the DPP. The fact is that he is independent in his role," Mr Ahern said.
Approximately 50 men are charged under Section 1.1. and Section 1.2 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1935, though the list changes frequently.
"Some can fall off, or some can be added. The DPP had to write to all the State solicitors to get that information.
"The figures will move up, or down but not by a lot, I understand," he declared.
During a one-day visit to Mayo, Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Michael McDowell said the Supreme Court's judgments vindicated his handling of the crisis.
