Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like others, I welcome the Bill and compliment Deputy Naughten on its introduction and this discussion. While it may not in itself be the final answer to the matter, it will generate sufficient discussion to focus on the issues involved and to assist the Minister in drafting legislation. I do not doubt that it will influence that legislation to a considerable extent.

The points made by a number of Deputies are well taken. We must balance the rights of children and vulnerable people, which must exist without fear or favour, with the possibility that convicted paedophiles and sex abusers may not re-offend. The question of balancing constitutional rights must be borne in mind.

Deputy Finian McGrath made a good point about vigilantism. Parents and the community in general would be concerned if they knew that an offender who could pose a threat was in their locality. This issue can create problems and must be addressed in the legislation.

There is also a question of mistaken identity, which can pose difficulties. All Deputies have dealt with cases of people who have been mistakenly identified as offenders. These are tragic circumstances, although not all of them relate to cases of sexual offences.

The legislation must recognise that parents are concerned that people who will re-offend can travel from one country to another, for example, between Ireland and the UK as part of the common travel area, and that the Garda does not know their whereabouts. The police need to know the whereabouts of habitual offenders.

A case comes to mind. A rapist who was deemed to have no longer been a threat to society was released from prison in this country a number of years ago, went to the UK, raped five women and raped and killed a sixth. It reminded me of similar crimes that had been perpetrated in Ireland. More recently, an habitual sex offender who is currently serving a prison sentence in the UK was convicted of a similar crime in Northern Ireland, having spent some time in an area in this country where a number of women went missing.

This is a question of the police knowing an offender's location, be it in the UK or Ireland. There must be a reliable system. Tagging has been mentioned. Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not. According to reports, the astute manipulator of modern technology can bypass or hack such systems. However, tagging should be kept in mind as a system with possibilities. Where someone has a series of offences to his name - they are mostly men - it should be possible at the press of a switch for the Garda to know where he is. In the event of a repeat offence, the Garda would at least know whether he had been in the area. Due process would need to be observed, but it could save a great deal of trouble and time.

The Minister of State referred to child sexual abuse within the family. That is a serious threat, although the problem is somewhat different. In many cases, the family will not report anything to anyone. We have seen many such cases. I do not know how to deal with this problem beyond having a vigilant social service system. I am uncertain about the extent to which the question of data protection would be of assistance, as it obstructs public representatives from getting or reporting information. One should always be careful not to report something unless there are solid grounds for doing so. In the event of a report being made available, we should know what progress there has been, if any.

I am sure that, like me, every Deputy in the Chamber has dealt with cases in which people have charges pending against them following evidence supplied from within their own families, and considerable periods elapse before any serious effort is made to handle the situation. This should not be the case.

To be fair, the Garda is good at following up on complaints. I have dealt with cases in which parents reported situations that were not to their liking and the Garda followed up on them effectively and efficiently, but not always with the full support of the attendant services that should be available to it.

Everyone who is a parent or a good family member who does not tolerate the sexual or physical abuse of children or vulnerable people must be alert. We need to do something about it.

Reference has been made to children or adults with special needs. There are problems in this regard, as it can be difficult to identify whether a particular act has occurred. It can also be difficult for the unfortunate victim to be believed. There are countless instances of child victims of sexual abuse not being believed. The case for young adults and children with special needs is similar. It is an appalling indictment of our society that there is a reluctance to believe that something has happened when the victim has a disability of one kind or another. This is food for thought as regards the condition of our society. We should be alert in the event of a report of abuse. While we should not be judgmental, it should follow automatically that the systems are sufficiently rugged and determined to pursue the matter quickly and effectively in a bid to ensure the complaint is handled.

Deputy Finian McGrath rightly pointed out another important issue.

We cannot have a situation where vigilantism takes over, particularly if there is misinformation or wrongful identification. The public must have confidence in whatever system we have in place. If gardaí do not have technological backup and other information available to enable them to do their job, public confidence in the system will break down.

References have been made recently to public distrust of politicians. It is remarkable because whenever distrust of politicians has happened in the past, it has usually been replaced by another system which does not harbour any debate at all and has led to unfortunate situations arising. It is, however, very important to have public confidence in this system. Parents and society at large should know that whatever is in place is reliable and capable of withstanding the rigours of modern criminality.

The sad aspect is that as we get older, we have more stories to tell. That is because there is more history and, in addition, much more case law has been built up. Therefore, as we get older, we can remember more cases than we did 20, 30 or 40 years ago. To those who are younger, it would be ten years ago. We must learn from past experience and enact legislation to put up serious barriers to such misconduct.

Several Members have mentioned constitutional entitlements which must be observed. There is a tendency for the public to get the impression that a criminal's constitutional entitlements receive greater space and recognition than those of the victim.

See this speech in context