Paedophile motion voted down

CONCERNED people should be able to go into a garda station and find out if their neighbour is a paedophile or sex offender, a garda conference heard yesterday.

However, delegates at the annual conference of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) rejected the motion by a margin of more than 5 to 1.

What they said:

Proposing the motion

Seamus Whelan, of the Wexford/Wicklow branch:

“The protection of the public and the vulnerable in society and the right of parents to warn their children of the presence of people in their community overrides any concerns that may be expressed with regard to the violation of the individual rights of convicted sex offenders or paedophiles.”

Mick Doyle, of Mayo division:

“When a person has a genuine concern and they go to the station they should be told if the person is a convicted paedophile.”

What they said:

Against the motion

Gerry Lovett, of the Central Detective Unit:

“After 10 seconds I said I can’t support it, for one reason and one reason only, vigilantism.”

He said there were documented cases in Britain and the US, including a famous case in Wales where a paediatrician was targeted in the belief that she was a paedophile.

Joe Keane, of Dublin Metropolitan Region (DMR) East:

“It would set a dangerous precedent, allowing a neighbour to go into a station and ask what convictions his neighbour had.”

Walter Kilcullen, DMR south central, said he had witnessed vigilantes in his own district.

“It’s ‘lynch law’. The people involved in this are cowards. They get drunken mobs to do it. Sometimes they target the wrong people and then innocent people are murdered and we’re left to mop it up.”

Pat Flynn, of the national executive:

“Every parent would be in favour of the spirit of the motion. But it would force paedophiles underground, making them impossible to monitor.”