Paedophiles freed from prison not monitored

PAEDOPHILIES released from prison can continue to prey on children because they are not being monitored, it was warned last night.

Support groups said the sex register was ineffective as it allows sex offenders move around freely, without regular checks.

Once a paedophile is released from prison, he must notify gardaí of his address.

But there is no obligation on gardaí to check that address or monitor the paedophile's behaviour.

More than 250 people are on the sex register, set up on September 27 last. That includes 111 sex offenders released from jail since then, those still going through the courts, those who received a suspended sentence and foreign offenders. The sex register is run by the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation

Ingrid Wallace of the Rape Crisis Network said it wasn't enough simply to have an offender's address.

"Who monitors the register? At what intervals are the addresses checked? It's not good enough just to keep a geographical track."

She said sex offenders were very cunning and very devious and that there needed to be active and regular monitoring of them.

Dr Pat Walsh of the Granada Institute, which treats sex offenders, said the concern with a register like this is that people who should be accountable to gardaí can effectively disappear.

He said the law which established the register the Sex Offenders Act 2001 does not specify how it should be operated.

"Gardaí should be informed an offender is being released and be given an address for him. That person should then be required to attend the local station, not any station."

He said a pro-active garda unit was also needed to check the offender's address and monitor his behaviour.

Dr Woods said there was also concern that offenders from abroad could come here unknown to the gardaí.

Released offenders and foreign offenders who do not inform gardaí of their address face a fine of 1,900 and/or 12 months imprisonment.

Senior social worker Kieran McGrath said the register was a "cosmetic exercise", with no particular practical function.

But a garda spokesman said there was excellent liaison between gardaí and police in Britain.

While the register primarily operates on the basis of offender's notifying gardaí, prison governors are also obliged to inform gardaí ten days before a sex offender is freed, the spokesman said.