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Updated 4.08 pm
PEOPLE WHO ‘GROOM’ children for prostitution could face up to 14 years in prison if a new bill comes to pass.
The bill follows a unanimous recommendation from the Oireachtas Justice Committee to create such an offence in order to combat abuse, exploitation and prostitution of children.
It was prepared with the support of number of charities including the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, Ruhama and the Immigrant Council of Ireland who say they have detected 30-children trafficked in Ireland for the purposes of sexual exploitation over the last two years.
The bill is being tabled by Fine Gael TD Marcella Corcoran Kennedy and seeks to include:
In announcing her bill, Corcoran Kennedy made reference to recent investigation into child exploitation in the UK city of Rotherham which detailed the abuse of 1,400 children over the course of 16 years. She said that, if implemented quickly, the bill would help “prevent the danger of such widespread abuse happening here”.
My short bill seeks to tidy up existing legislation in this area and introduce into Irish law the specific crime of child grooming, whether it takes place in the general community or online. It will ensure that those who seek to harm our children can find no hiding place in the law and do not have an opportunity to use legal confusion to escape justice.
The need for legislation in the area was unanimously accepted by the Oireachtas Justice Committee and Corcoran Kennedy says she will be seeking cross-party in order to pass the bill.
The ICI’s Denise Charlton said that if passed it will deal a “significant blow to traffickers and pimps”.
“This bill offers an opportunity to protect and support underage girls and boys who are trafficked into and around Ireland to meet the demands of sex buyers. In the past two-years alone 30 such children have been detected,” she said.
Charlton said that the bill reflects the recommendation of the Oireachtas Committee and that the ICI will be pushing for other recommendations to be implemented including the introduction of laws the purchase of sex.
Anti-prostitution organisation Ruhama has also welcomed the bill saying that they have worked with women who have been trafficked and groomed as minors before being drawn into prostitution.
“Perpetrators can range from strangers building up relationships with young people, to their own family members abusing positions of trust,” said CEO Sarah Benson. “Grooming has been something Ireland has lacked the legislative mechanisms required to deal with up until now.”
Today’s bill has been criticised by UglyMugs.ie who campaign on behalf of sex workers and are opposed to the criminalisation of sex buyers.
They contest the ICI’s claim that 30 children have been trafficked to Ireland for prostitution in the last two years. They point to a Department of Justice report for 2012 into human trafficking which detailed that there were two reported cases of children being trafficked into Ireland for prostitution.
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Serious comment here but can the pro-pope commenters on the The Journal explain to me how they explain to themselves why the RCC has not paid their abuse bill to the people of Ireland. The man is literally dripping in gold. How is this in the way of the teaching of Christ?
@DaisyMay:
It’s a fair question but Francis is head of marketing and PR. You’d have to ask Luigi in accounts.
@DaisyMay: they still believe the confessional seal is above the law of the land. With that kind of logic there’s nothing you can say or do with ppl like that.
@DaisyMay: If you research the history of Western society you would know that while the Brits had the Royal family and the traditions of weddings with style,tradition and culture, we had the Pope so we made the best use of it. Despite what many people believe, those born in 1979 came into a country that was not wealthy but was bursting with confidence and creativity so many today are biting the hand that made their views possible -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_in_Ireland
For those looking for a secular utopia where they believe the State can legislate the electorate into happiness, that was tried before in Russia as communism by ripping apart all the creative and productive traditions of a society. In 1979 despite having f)ck all, the events were done with style and became a point of departure for a spirited nation that discovered their wealth was in a lost heritage of style that was buried under British rule.
Setting up the Catholic Church as a target has now grown old , most who go to mass are gentle and decent people whatever the hierarchy of the Church was and does.
@KEV: ” they still believe the confessional seal is above the law of the land”
The purpose of the confessional suits the Irish nature as it means people can express regret for something they did or did not do openly to another person so they can avoid saying sorry to the other person they offended. Nowadays they pay fortunes to shrinks to do the same thing.
@Gkell1:
Francis really should update the marketing catalogue though Gerry. They’re still working out of the SPRING/SUMMER AD321 edition.
@Gkell1: Wow,You need to get put more.People are a lot more enlightened now.They no longer FEAR the Catholic church and their backward and oppressive thinking so get down off your high horse and get into the free thinking 21st century.
@Tweed Cap: You are no fun but that is not a crime, in Ireland in the late 70′s and 80′s they could have a picture of the Pope and Elvis Presley on the wall as captured brilliantly by Alan Parker in a tribute to Irish perspectives at the time -
http://www.beatrix.pro.br/mofo/imagens/com-jimmy.JPG
Having all the wealth today can’t make up for the fact that those who should be creative and productive are pushing an entirely negative extermination agenda. To be spiritual is nothing more than to be capable of being inspired and being inspiring so while the Church forgot that for centuries, it still survives in their congregations and outside of it, even among those who consider themselves atheists.
@John Killeen: “People are a lot more enlightened now.”
The ‘enlightened’ academics with their laws of nature/physics/motion/ became the new priests but offered nothing to their followers other than to live in their heads . Replacing sermons with lectures, entire generations have lost their individual intuitive balance which is present in all productive and creative societies. Many of you live by convictions that are not your own but a more balanced individual works the opposite way
“God works in us from inside outwards;
creatures work on us from the outside.”
Ruysbroek
@Gkell1: While I don’t necessarily agree with a lot of this, I do think that the majority of people who go to mass in Ireland are good people, however, the issue isn’t the people it is the hierarchy and the clergy. Do you not think that supporting this organization is even a little bit of a poor judgment considering its past in this country?
@DaisyMay: I’ve thought about this, and why the state actually don’t pursue this. It is down to the church being able to pass the guilt on to the state for this, as the people who were responsible (politicians, judges, guard, teachers, social workers) were all state employees who absolved themselves of responsibility by accepting that they had to, at all times, be compromised by the church. In that way, because we didn’t stand up against these bad people, we were accountable. I do think we should chase up these bad deals with churches, but ultimately redress to individuals is the most important thing.
@Costello Brendan: “Do you not think that supporting this organization is even a little bit of a poor judgment considering its past in this country?”
It took me about 20 years to work through the technical details where the Church became an organization of morals and almost an extension of this State’s legal system while recognizing that even today there are Catholics out there looking after the homeless and addicted in a society that mocks them. Today there isn’t a single Catholic in existence willing or perhaps able to untangle the issues that were never resolved around the Galileo affair when the Church jettisoned its astronomical heritage and that lack of engagement can be dismaying but I live with it.
There is a danger that a DUP mentality could emerge where people only know their culture by what they hate with the Pope and Church in this instance being the target so some balance is needed.
@KEV: who does kev?
@DaisyMay: every John paul I know and grew up with in the 80s is a feckin headcase
Just go to every council estate in Ireland you will find a John-Paul !
@John Judd: John Paul was only his stage name. The purists called their kids Karl.
@Féach News: Ah the episode of Father ted where he could not remember Pope John real name, but got 5/5 in his specialist subject William Shacknure .
After a brainstorming meeting to discuss the latest ideas on new ways to squander viewers hard earned cash this is the fruits of their labour?
Sure his real name was Jim I believe
Plenty of Karol’s at the time as well.
Have to say RTE do really good documentaries need to do more of them rather than gringe worthy chat shows
Try and find a few Benedicts!
How many parents named their sons John Paul after the Led Zepplin founder, John Paul Jones?
This’ll be some craic. Imagine, a loada lads called John Paul sitting around spinning yarns. Mad!
Does it count if my middle name is Paul? Am ready and willing RTE, the world needs to know what it was like watching Riverdance at age 15, and hearing about the white ear hair and back aches I have started to have in recent years. Take some more licence fee while you’re at it.
I know at least 5 johnpauls. Id be crackin if that was me
@shellakybooky: could always add on George and Ringo to yer name, changes the dynamic.
I liked David McWilliams book “The Pope’s Children” — good insight into the culture of 2007, etc.
John Paul George Ringo already cornered the market.
Maggie ronald and this guy are the cause of the housing crisis in the western world.
@Sean Conway:
And we have the winner (not for the first time) of the dumbest comment of the day
Sexist only looking for males but then again it is RTÉ !
@Lance Chancer: I know at least 6 Jane-Paula’s norm in the summer of 1980. They should be included!!
@Lance Chancer: I sure females called not John Paul are also welcome.
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