Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I would not like it to go out from the House that there is no post-release supervision in this jurisdiction. There is very substantial supervision by the Garda under the terms of the sex offenders register. Section 10 requires certain notification aspects. In addition, the Garda Síochána operates a domestic violence and sexual assault unit which oversees the notification and investigation of sex offenders. Equally, 130 sex offenders are under constant supervision and monitoring by the probation service.

In due course, I hope to bring forward the legislation required to impose post-release electronic tagging of sex offenders. It is a complex area and, as the Deputy knows, we have existing legislation which would potentially allow tagging for sex offenders on temporary release. As Minister, I have been extremely reluctant to allow any sex offenders out on temporary release, whether tagged or not.

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