Gardaí must tell neighbours about sex offenders
Minister for Justice Alan Shatter committed to introducing stricter rules governing the monitoring of sex offenders, following radical legislative proposals from Roscommon independent TD Denis Naughten.
The Government was firmly committed to addressing concerns, Mr Shatter said.
New rules will also compel sex offenders to register with gardaí within three days — as opposed to the current seven — once they arrive in Ireland.
Mr Naughten has received cross-party support for his child sex offenders (information and monitoring) bill, but the Government said it has reservations about parts of it.
The Coalition will not oppose his bill, will consider its contents and introduce their own plans.
Mr Naughten said there was one breach of the sex offenders’ register for every five offenders on it, adding that he wanted information on sex offenders to be made available to parents of children and vulnerable adults who may be at risk.
“The level of breaches in respect of the notification requirements of convicted sex offenders appears to be a clear indication the current system is not working.”
He said the bill did not propose to go as far as publishing the names, addresses and pictures of paedophiles, as is done in the United States.
Junior minister Brian Hayes, speaking on behalf of the justice department, said the Government had reservations about the bill, particularly around issues of constitutionality and human rights.
Parents were already in a position to raise concerns with gardaí about people in communities, he said.
He said the proposals from Mr Naughten, previously expelled from the Fine Gael parliamentary party, were “complicated and confused”.
Mr Shatter, he said, would unveil his own legislation in a couple of weeks which would provide a statutory basis for disclosure on offenders where appropriate.
There are 344 sex offenders in prison, 103 (including 78, to date) will be released in 2013 and 99 in 2014, Mr Hayes said.
He pointed out that a huge number of sexual offences against children were committed by relatives or known neighbours, and it was not always a “stranger danger” situation.
Cari, a support group for children, said it welcomed the fact that parents would be given the automatic right to find out if anyone dealing with their child is a convicted child sex offender.
They pointed out that similar guidelines in Britain, known as Sarah’s Law, proved to be a “moderate, considerate and appropriate response”.
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