Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

I wish to highlight the concerns of the Children's Rights Alliance, Rape Crisis Network Ireland and the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Defects in the register for sex offenders have been highlighted and there is a need for a properly resourced monitoring registration system. However, there is still no indicated date for the publication of such legislation, about which we continually ask. It is surely untenable at this stage for the Taoiseach to feign interest in child protection and not set a date for the publication of a register of persons considered unsafe to work with children. There seems to be an impediment to this, which, for some bizarre reason, does not exist north of the Border. Can the Taoiseach expedite that matter? This promised legislation is long awaited and urgently needed.

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