Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I have raised in the House with the Taoiseach on a number of occasions in the past one of the great scourges of humanity, and every parent's worst nightmare, namely, paedophilia, which is a transnational problem and an international phenomenon. This issue is on the front of one of today's major newspapers. Following the assault of two young girls in Dublin at the weekend, there is genuinely great fear, anxiety and concern among parents all over the country about the way we regulate these issues and the legislation that is in place.

The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Child Protection has been dealing with this issue. Deputy Jim O'Keeffe, on behalf of this side of the House, has been raising a particular point about Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is absolutely essential that our enforcement measures are on a par with the best of those that apply elsewhere.

I was struck by the dedicated unit that has been set up in Great Britain — the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre — which brings specialists from a variety of backgrounds to work together to protect children. That centre launched a website this week which is dedicated to locating child sex offenders who have failed to comply with the notification requirements. The difficulty, which is exacerbated in this country, is that while the details on the UK's most wanted offenders are now posted on a dedicated website, www.ceop.gov.uk/wanted, one of them has been identified as living and working in Donegal for the past two years. It appears that if a convicted sex offender here wishes to work in one county, he or she can register in another. The concentration through this site in Great Britain is now having an effect — alleged, perceived or real — of sex offenders and paedophiles arriving in this jurisdiction. This is obviously of great concern.

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