Legislation which includes a section on the sexual "grooming" of young people is in the process of being drafted, a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice confirmed last night.
As it emerged yesterday that gardaí have interviewed three more men in connection with allegations of rape made by a 14-year-old boy from north Dublin, a department spokeswoman confirmed that the new legislation is with the parliamentary counsel to the Government for detailed drafting.
The Criminal Law (Trafficking in Persons and Sexual Offences) Bill was approved by Government in July 2006, and includes a heading on the sexual grooming of a child under 17 years of age.
According to the general scheme of the Bill, individuals will be allowed make a defence in relation to certain offences by proving they "honestly believed that, at the time of the alleged commission of the offence, the child against whom the offence is alleged to have been committed had attained the age of 17 years".
Where it is left to the court to decide this, it shall "have regard to the presence or absence of reasonable grounds for the defendant's so believing and all other relevant circumstances".
The Bill also allows for penalties of up to 14 years imprisonment where the child who was "groomed" was under 15 years of age, and up to seven years where the child was aged under 17. The spokeswoman stressed that there are already a range of "very strong" laws in place relating to sexual offences against children.
Six people have now been questioned in relation to the alleged rape. These include a truck driver and language-school lecturer, both in their 40s, from south county Dublin and north county Dublin, and a south Dublin-based probationary garda. Both the truck driver and lecturer were arrested; the others have agreed to be interviewed under caution.
The Irish Times understands gardaí are working on the theory that this group was in contact with the boy, either by telephone or e-mail, but had not had sex with him by the time the matter came to light last Wednesday.