Data on location of sex offenders no longer available to communities

There were 173 paedophiles, rapists, and other sex offenders living in communities having been released from prison after serving sentences for crimes including defilement of a child, sexual exploitation, and aggravated sexual assault.

Communities can no longer access information relating to the location of convicted sex offenders after the Department of Justice told the agency responsible for monitoring them to stop publishing annual reports.

The exact location of sex offenders following their release from prison is not available to members of the public. 

However, data showing the number living in specific geographical areas had been published each year by the Sex Offender Risk Assessment and Management (Soram) agency.

There were 173 paedophiles, rapists, and other sex offenders living in communities under the supervision of SORAM in 2020, having been released from prison after serving sentences for crimes including defilement of a child, sexual exploitation, and aggravated sexual assault.

The agency has since been instructed by the department’s Offender Management Oversight Group (OMOG) to stop publishing annual reports, however, meaning that information relating to the location of these criminals is no longer available.

A spokesman for the Department of Justice said the decision was part of a move to consolidate the work of all offender-management agencies in a single, comprehensive annual report.

No annual report compiled

However, no such publication was produced last year and Soram did not compile an annual report in accordance with the department’s instructions.

“In developing and consolidating … work across all multi-agency adult offender management programmes, it is agreed that one comprehensive annual report will be compiled, addressing all multi-agency offender management programmes, of which Soram is a component,” said the spokesman.

“The template for this annual report for 2022 is being finalised at this current time.” 

It is intended that the relevant data contained in previous SORAM reports will still be included in this more comprehensive offender management report.

In addition to publishing information regarding the location of sex offenders, Soram’s annual reports have also previously highlighted poor compliance within the agency in terms of filing data and documentation on the criminals it monitors.

In 2019, one in four of the agency’s 28 local teams failed to file adequate data on the sex offenders in their jurisdictions, with their compliance levels described in the annual report as “low” or “poor”.

Soram is comprised of representatives from An Garda Síochána, the Irish Prison Service, the Probation Service, and local authority housing bodies.

It is charged with managing the risk posed to communities by convicted sex offenders.

The spokesman for the department said the current structure of offender-management agencies provides an opportunity to “streamline activities, use resources more efficiently, and realise synergies across existing and proposed new programmes, where possible”.