Global Progress Towards Ending the Sexual Exploitation of Children
A global problem requires truly global solutions to address the sexual exploitation of children.
Indicators
Age of Consent
Partial
Age of sexual consent is 17 years with a close-in-age exception of two years given that it is not a person in authority in an intimidating/exploitative relationship with the child.
ECO Ireland, 2018
Extraterritoriality & Extradition
Partial
Active extraterritoriality is provided for SEC crimes and trafficking of children including crimes committed by residents. Passive extraterritoriality is not provided for. There is no mention to the double criminality requirement with regards to extraterritoriality.
Extradition requires double criminality and a minimum gravity of one year of imprisonment unless between EU member states. Irish nationals cannot be extradited unless provided otherwise specifically in extradition provisions.
SEC offences are referred to as extraditable under the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) framework within the EU without requiring double criminality if the act is punishable by a maximum period of at least three years of imprisonment in the requesting State.
ECO Ireland, 2018
CSAM Definition
Partial
The national legislation provides a definition which is partially in line with international standards. The definition provided does not include non-visual material, nor computer/digitally generated CSAM including realistic images of non-existing children.
ECO Ireland, 2018
Background Check Required
Not Yet Assessed
National Commitments
No
Ireland has ratified the CRC, the OPIC, the Trafficking Protocol and the ILO Convention no. 182.
Ireland has not ratified the OPSC, the UNWTO Framework Convention on Tourism Ethics nor the Council of Europe's Lanzarote and Budapest Conventions.
ECO Ireland, 2018
Child Advocacy Centers
Not Yet Assessed
SEC Police Unit
Partial
There are several units including SEC in their mandate mainly an Online Child Sexual Exploitation Unit and a Human Trafficking Investigation and Coordination Unit. However an all-encompassing SEC-specialized unit does not yet exist. Furthermore, no information has been found on whether these units are fully functional and whether both offences under national and extra-territorial jurisdiction are able to be addressed by them.
ECO Ireland, 2018
Protection Standards Travel and Tourism
Not Yet Assessed
Public SEC Case Data
No
There are national statistics on child trafficking cases collected by the Garda Human Trafficking Investigation and Coordination Unit disaggregated by type of abuse, age and nationality. It is unclear if this case data is regularly made available and whether it includes info on offenders and on compensation sought by victims. No public case data is made available for other SEC manifestations.
ECO Ireland, 2018
Age of Consent Law is Appropriate
The age of sexual consent for both males and females is 18 and a close in age exemption (up to 3 years) is provided for consensual sexual relationships between adolescents.
The age of sexual consent is the legally defined age at which a person is considered mature enough to agree to sexual activity. The age of sexual consent varies across jurisdictions around the world and there is no international legal instrument establishing it, however various forms of advocacy have encouraged States to establish a minimum age under which engaging in sexual contact is considered a criminal offence. This is intended to prevent sexual contact with children and to prevent argument that the child consented as a defence.
Often national provisions related to the age of sexual consent include an exception, known as a close-in-age exemption, making consensual sexual activities between young people lawful if the partners are of similar ages and the age difference is not higher than a certain number of years.
To ensure that cases of child sexual exploitation do not go unpunished, ECPAT advocates for the age of sexual consent to be set at 18 for both males and females with a close-in-age exemption of 2-3 years provided in order to ensure young people are not penalised for consensual sexual acts with peers. The age from which the exemption applies should be established by States but may begin for young people somewhere between 12 and 16 years of age.
Yes The national legislation explicitly indicates that the age of sexual consent unequivocally is 18 for both males and females, with a close-in-age exemption for sexual acts between peers (of up to 3 years) is provided by law.