Child groups fear ruling fallout

ReactionThe impact that releasing convicted child sex offenders would have on their victims was "too intolerable to even think about", the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland has said.

Executive director Fiona Neary said the unfolding fallout from last week's Supreme Court decision, striking down the law under which a man is automatically guilty of rape if he has sex with a girl aged under 15, was sending a "very dangerous message out to sex offenders" and would "devastate" victims and their families.

"The message is the legal system does not have the mechanisms to sanction child sex offenders."

While the network recognised Ms Justice Mary Laffoy's hands were tied when she ordered the release of a 41-year-old man convicted in 2004 for the rape of a 12- year-old girl, Ms Neary said: "We are still appalled that it has come to this. Watching this man being released, on the basis of inaction on law reform, is just appalling.

"Not alone did this man only get three years for buying seven alcoholic drinks for a 12-year-old and pleading guilty to statutory rape, but he has been successful in using the law to gain release. This tells sex offenders our laws can be manipulated to maximum advantage." It was critical that there were robust laws "so families don't feel compelled to take the law into their own hands".

Other groups working in child protection have warned that anyone convicted of statutory rape who is now released will have unhindered access to children as their names will be removed from the sex offenders register.

Paul Gilligan, chief executive of the Irish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children, said society faced a "child-protection crisis".

"The biggest implication is the fact that adults who have been convicted of sleeping with children will be free to walk among the community and because they will have their names taken off the register, there will be absolutely no way of monitoring them."

The Children At Risk in Ireland Foundation also expressed concern that "they could be given an all-clear to have direct access to children in the future." Director Mary Flaherty said she was "appalled" that when the law and the Constitution should be bolstered to better protect children, "the opposite is actually happening".

Ellen O'Malley-Dunlop, chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, said yesterday's decision "heralds the beginning of the fallout" and called on the Government to "take immediate action".