Brenda Power

You didn't know what their proclivities were.

or their tendencies, where you didn't know what their capabilities were.

It's irrelevant whether he was great in the Tidy Towns competition or that he helped out with his local, I don't know, GAA club.

And I mean, in this case particularly, this man appears to have infiltrated a Christian children's camp.

with the intention, you'd have to conclude, of grooming and approaching young boys.

Well, that is the evidence that was heard.

So, I mean, are we saying then that if you are convicted of a sexual offence, that you lose that right to have people in your community tell the court about other aspects of your life?

And is that a fair thing to do for people who are convicted of those crimes?

Well, as I say, I don't see what the relevance of it is.

These people do not know you in this capacity.

They can only say that you were, as I say, you were an upstanding member of the community.

That's clearly not the case.

Do you know what I mean?

I mean, I'm not trying to equate different crimes, but let's say I defraud a charity out of 500,000 euro because I work for them or whatever it might be.

Am I entitled to character references and yet somebody who's convicted of a sexual offence is not?

And then how does that play constitutionally when it comes to my rights over somebody else's?

Well, I mean, I suppose in that situation, you can see the relevance of a character reference might say, look, we know that Clare fell on hard times and she couldn't bear bills.

And while we, of course, deplore the theft and the deception, we'd ask that, you know, her previous good character be taken into account.

My point is that when you're talking about sexual offences,

there is that stigma and there's always that lingering doubt.