23 June 2005

Justice

Age of Criminal Responsibility

Ciarán Cuffe asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his views on whether his proposals to reduce the age of criminal responsibility to ten years of age is compatible with the various international agreements to which Ireland is a party; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister For Justice, Equality and Law Reform: The Children Act 2001 proposed to raise the age of criminal responsibility from seven years to 12 years. In retrospect, such a raising of the age by five years in one go may have been overly ambitious. Accordingly, the Minister of State in my Department, Deputy Brian Lenihan, who has responsibility for children, is preparing proposals for submission to Government which will include a realistic raising of the age of criminal responsibility to ten to bring the age into line with many other common law jurisdictions.