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Wed 11 Nov 2006Report wants end of 'age' defence in child sex casesThe Joint Oireachtas Committee on Child Protection is to propose to the Government a change to the Constitution to make it impossible to defend sex with a young child on the grounds of mistake as to age, The Irish Times has learned. Miriam Donohoe reports.The committee, established in the wake of the statutory rape controversy, is recommending in a draft report a constitutional amendment to allow for an offence with "absolute liability" in relation to sex with children under a certain age.