1,400 sex offenders have to report to gardaí

There are more than 1,400 sex offenders in the country who have to report to gardaí, a conference heard yesterday.

Inspector Michael Lynch was speaking at a conference in Dublin hosted by Rape Crisis Network Ireland about the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill.

The proposed legislation, expected to be introduced during the current Dáil session, provides for more sustained contact with convicted sexual offenders.

Inspector Lynch has special responsibility for child protection and the monitoring of people who are subject to the Sex Offenders Act 2001.

The Dublin-based inspector said local gardaí did have a lot of “soft information” in relation to people suspected of committing a sexual offence.

“Our problem is that we cannot compel people to do anything if they do not have a conviction. Our job is to investigate the crime,” he said.

The proposed legislation provides for a risk assessment of offenders and, where necessary, information about the offender may be disclosed in the public interest.

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Inspector Lynch said there were sex offender risk assessment teams in every garda division in the country.

However, the disclosure of information about an offender would only be for people about whom gardaí had genuine concerns.

He believed the proposed legislation was drawn up to deal with certain cases, such as where an offender moves in with an unmarried mother of three.

Information about the offender would be shared with the woman to protect her children. The offender would have the option of telling the woman and the gardaí would have to verify that.

If the offender did not tell the woman, then the gardaí would have the power to tell her.

Currently, gardaí can only inform people about a sex offender if they are aware of a specific imminent threat to a child.

Inspector Lynch said they did share information about sex offenders with the Child and Family Agency, Tulsa.

However, even with the introduction of new legislation, the disclosure of information about offenders would be to the minimum number of persons necessary.

Inspector Lynch said it had to be established that naming an offender would be unlikely to cause harm, damage to property or result in threats or intimidation to any person and that included the offender.

The new bill, as it is currently drawn up, allows gardaí to publish the names of convicted sex offenders and information concerning the risk posed by the offender in cases where their whereabouts are unknown.

Inspector Lynch said he thought the most likely place for publication would be the Garda website, although it could be published in the general media.

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