Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 28 November 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality

General Scheme of Sex Offenders (Amendment) Bill 2018: Discussion

9:00 am

Mr. Vivian Geiran:

Mr. Dack has described the specifics of the sex offender risk assessment and management and, while I said earlier that there is no silver bullet, I would not want people to go away thinking that legislation is not important. The Sex Offenders Act 2001 is foundational and progressive legislation that helps all of us working in this sphere to assess and manage sex offenders. The two legislative items currently being considered would represent significant updates to that Act. I emphasise that legislation is one important foundation for the work we do and, as Mr. Dack said, it would put a certain element of what we do on a statutory basis, which would be welcome. The various other provisions would also be welcome.