Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

Does the Minister of State agree that local authorities should in every case submit the name of proposed tenants or residents to the Garda to check whether they are on the sex offenders' list? If they are, the local authority should insist that a risk assessment be done to ascertain whether the person is a high, medium or low risk to the community in which it intends to house them. As it stands, nobody is aware when a high risk sex offender or paedophile goes into a community where there are many young children, schools, sports centres and play areas. The Minister of State is saying that the local authority should not get involved, which is appalling and unacceptable.

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