2.— The Act of 1993 is amended by the substitution of the following section for section 6 (inserted by section 250 of the Children Act 2001):

“6.— (1) A person who solicits or importunes a child (whether or not for the purposes of prostitution) for the purposes of the commission of an act that would constitute an offence—

(a) under section 2 or 3 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2006, or

(b) referred to in section 2 of the Act of 1990,

shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) A person who solicits or importunes a person who is mentally impaired (whether or not for the purposes of prostitution) for the purposes of the commission of an act that would constitute an offence—

(a) under section 5 of this Act, or

(b) referred to in section 2 of the Act of 1990,

shall be guilty of an offence.

(3) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €5,000, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or to both, or

(b) on conviction on indictment to a fine, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years, or to both.

(4) In this section—

‘Act of 1990’ means the Criminal Law (Rape) (Amendment) Act 1990;

‘ child ’ means a person under the age of 17 years;

‘ mentally impaired ’ has the same meaning as it has in section 5 of this Act.”.