Department of Justice officials are drafting a new Sexual Offences Bill, due to be published towards the end of the year.

Under the current rules, harassment orders can be obtained by a victim to prevent an offender from communicating with them or approaching their home or workplace.

Currently, these orders may be imposed at the time of the offender’s sentence or before their release from prison.

Under the plans, however, orders could be applied after a prisoner is released.

Furthermore, the bill would enshrine in law a recommendation from the Law Reform Commission in relation to consent. It would amend the law such that belief in consent had to be reasonable as well as honestly held.

As the law stands, if an accused person states they believed another person was consenting, the test is one of honesty or that they genuinely believed there was consent.

The new legislation will give effect to the recommendations of the O’Malley report, which looked at the state of sexual offences.