I move:
(1) That a select committee consisting of four Members of Seanad Éireann be joined with a select committee to be appointed by Dáil Éireann to form the Joint Committee on Child Protection to:
—review the substantive criminal law relating to sexual offences against children;
—examine the issues surrounding the age of consent in relation to sexual offences;
—examine criminal justice procedures relating to the evidence of children in abuse cases;
—consider the implications arising from and the consequences of the Supreme Court decision of the 23 May 2006 in the ‘C.C.' case;
—examine the desirability or otherwise of amending the Constitution to deal with the outcome of the ‘C.C' case and/or to provide for a general right of protection for children;
—make such other recommendations on the protection of children as shall to the committee seem appropriate;
the committee shall report back to each House with recommendations in a final report by 30 November 2006.
(2) The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Minister of State at the Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform, the Department of Health and Children and the Department of Education and Science (with special responsibility for children) shall be ex officio members of the committee and shall be entitled to vote.
(3) The quorum of the Joint Committee shall be four, of whom at lease one shall be a Member of Seanad Éireann and one a Member of Dáil Éireann.
(4) The joint committee shall have the powers defined in Standing Order 65(1) to (8), inclusive, and 91(2).
(5) The Chairperson of the joint committee shall be a member of Dáil Éireann.
