New sex offender laws described as 'good step in the right direction'

According to the Department of Justice, the act "will strengthen the management and monitoring of sex offenders in the community, including a number of amendments to the sex offenders register notification requirements, as well as providing for electronic tagging and for an explicit prohibition on convicted sex offenders working with children or vulnerable people".

The act is expected to be enforced later this year following consultation with the likes of gardaí, the probation service and other relevant departments and agencies, the department added.

Justice Minister Simon Harris said: "I understand the concerns that communities can have about sex offenders and the protection of public safety, and I am confident this legislation will help to alleviate those concerns. The primary aim of this legislation is to improve the management and monitoring of sex offenders in the community to protect the public, including through the use of electronic tagging."

Combatting all forms of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is a priority personally and for the Government, he claimed.

Ms Crilly, who has been at the coalface of campaigning against sexual violence for decades, said the act is a positive development and a good step in the right direction to making communities safer. 

"What I like about it is that for once, these guys know that they are being watched. 

"Very often, people are concerned about the low sentences that sex offenders get, and they do come out and they do live in communities. Nobody knows who they are or what they have done. 

"I do welcome this step as another step in identifying sex offenders and taking this seriously," she said.

The act's main provisions include changing the sex offenders register notification requirements, including a reduction of the notification period from seven to three days.

Preventing sex offenders from working with children and vulnerable adults is explicitly provided for by the court, while it provides powers to gardaí to take fingerprints, palm-prints and photographs to confirm the identity of the person.

It allows gardaí to disclose information relating to people on the sex offender register, in extenuating circumstances — for example, where there is a serious threat to public safety, the department said.

The act reduces the period in which sex offenders must inform gardaí of their name and address from within seven days of leaving prison to three days, as well as any change to their name or address within three days.

They must also inform gardaí if they are going to be outside the State for more than three days, and if they are returning to the State having been outside it for three days.