Legislation will be introduced in the Dáil by mid-June to ensure the protection of girls under the age of 15, in the wake of the Supreme Court decision that 1935 statutory rape legislation is unconstitutional.
Tánaiste Mary Harney told the Dáil that the Minister for Justice would brief the Cabinet on the issue next week and the Government intended to have legislation ready within a fortnight.
If the Cabinet approved the legislation it would be published in the first week in June and could be introduced in the Dáil the following week, when the House returns from a week's break.
The Tánaiste said that "given the complexity of the legislation and what we are seeking to deal with, that is reasonable in the circumstances. We would wish to have it today but that is not possible."
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny had expressed his concern at how long it might take to introduce legislation, after sentencing was adjourned on Wednesday in a case taken under the 1935 Act. It was a serious issue, he said "and it is in the people's interest that young persons be protected".
He called for an assurance that legislation would be introduced quickly as his party's justice spokesman, Jim O'Keeffe, had produced legislation for the issue.
Later Mr O'Keeffe postponed the introduction of his Courts (Register of Sentences) Bill in light of the Tánaiste's response, "pending deliver on the Government commitment to legislative action", he said.
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said that "quite clearly, if an offence is deemed unconstitutional the trial and conviction is invalid as is the subsequent imprisonment". He said the Minister for Justice had been on the RTÉ Pat Kenny radio show "explaining that the Chief Justice had warned of making haste slowly on this". However, "surely the Government is agreed that we want to avoid the ludicrous position of people who must now be released finding themselves in a position to take an action against the State for wrongful imprisonment if they are not released".
Ms Harney stressed, however, that "sexual assault is an alternative charge and an alternative verdict that can be made in these cases. That is important to recognise." She said the prison authorities "are in discussion with the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Attorney General" about the seven people who are in custody solely on the basis of section 1 (1) of the 1935 Act.
She did not have the numbers of others in custody but said there were people who were on bail charged under the legislation, as well as people in custody pending trial, "persons who have completed a sentence" and are "subject to reporting requirements to the Garda Síochána under the Sexual Offenders Act 2001, and persons who have completed a sentence on the basis of a conviction and have a criminal offence recorded against them".
Mr Rabbitte said he found it "surprising" that the Government did not have the figures for the other categories.
