Section 2, The Sexual Offences Act, 2012

(1) For the purposes of this Act, consent meansagreement by choice and with the freedom and capacity to make that choice. (2) Circumstances in which a person does not consent to an act include-– (a) the person submits to the act because of the use of violence or force on that person or someone else: (b) the person submits because of threats or intimidation against that person or someone else; (c) the person submits because of fear of harm to that person or to someone else; (d) the person submits because he or she is unlawfully detained; (e) the person is asleep, unconscious or so affected by alcohol or another drug as to be incapable of freely consenting; (f) the person is incapable of understanding the essential nature of the act or of communicating their unwillingness to participate in the act due to mental or physical disability; (g) the person is mistaken about the sexual nature of the act or by the identity of the person; 4 5 (h) the accused induces the person to engage in the activity by abusing a position of trust, power or authority; (i) the person, having consented to engage in the sexual activity, expresses, by words or conduct, a lack of agreement to continue to engage in the activity. (3) In determining whether or not a person consented to the act that forms the subject matter of the charge, the court shall have regard to the following:– (a) the fact that a person did not say or do anything to indicate consent to a sexual act is enough to show that the act took place without that person’s consent: and (b) a person is not to be regarded as having consented to a sexual act just because– (i) the person did not physically resist; (ii) the person did not sustain physical injury; or (iii) on that or an earlier occasion the person freely agreed to engage in another sexual act with that person or some other person.