Fine Gael will present a Private Members' Bill in the Dáil this week to outlaw internet "grooming" of children for the purpose of sexual abuse.
Fine Gael's spokesman on justice Jim O'Keeffe has called on the Government parties to adopt Fine Gael's proposals to tackle this problem.
"This Bill was published over two years ago and we have been waiting for the Government's promised legislation in this area ever since. With time running out in this Dáil, we cannot wait any longer to act, so Fine Gael will ask the Dáil to support this Bill," Mr O'Keeffe said in a statement.
"The Child Trafficking and Pornography (Amendment) (No 2) Bill 2004 addresses a serious loophole in Irish law: that children are not adequately protected from predatory internet users.
"The existing law in this area was specifically drafted to deal with child trafficking and was enacted before the practice of internet grooming became more widespread.
"Section 3 of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998 makes it an offence for an adult to arrange for a child to travel for the purposes of sexual exploitation, but this Act does not cover a situation where a child is not coerced into meeting a predatory adult. In legal terms, coercion of the child is a necessary element to make it an offence.
"The Department of Justice has said it shares Fine Gael's concerns over internet grooming, but we have been waiting for over two years for the Minister for Justice to act."
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice last night denied weekend media reports that the repeal of legislation outlawing "a gross act of indecency" with a boy had created another legislative loophole.
The provision was repealed with the enactment of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2006 last summer in the wake of the statutory rape crisis following the release from prison of Mr A and other sex offenders.
A spokeswoman for the department said the repeal of the old provision was only done because all new legislation must be gender-neutral.
The provision had been originally introduced in relation to boys in the context of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1993. However, the spokeswoman said the crimes covered by this provision remained illegal under a number of provisions in the Criminal Law (Rape Amendment) Act 1990.
