The DRCC welcomes the publication of the New Sexual Offences Bill 2014

 The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) welcomes

the publication of the Heads of the New Sexual Offences Bill 2014

Ellen O’Malley-Dunlop, CEO said: “We commend the Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald for delivering on her promise of getting the Heads of the new Sexual Offences  Bill published before the end of 2014 and  the officials in the Department of Justice for all the work that has gone into preparing this very complex and comprehensive Bill.

There is a lot in this Bill that we need time to absorb and to analyse so that we can give informed feedback to the Minister and to the Department for their consideration.

However on first reading we can say that we are very pleased to see that:

• the age of consent has been retained at 17
• there is provision for the disclosure of counselling and psychotherapy notes in the criminal justice system
• there is provision for grooming offences
• for child (pornography) abuse material
• there is a provision to sanction the buyers of sex
• there is provision to have tighter management of convicted sex offenders
• the penalties for female perpetrators of incest has been brought in line with male perpetrators
• there is provision not to sanction normal exploratory sexual activity between young people within an age band of 2 years provided there is no coercion
• there is provision for how children and vulnerable adults are treated in the criminal justice system

Please remember our National 24-Hour Helpline 1800 77 8888.

ENDS