Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 56:

In page 34, to delete lines 1 to 22 and substitute the following:

“Amendment of Act of 2001

49.The Act of 2001 is amended-(a) in section 29, by the insertion of the following subsection:

“(6) In addition to the conditions referred to in subsection (1)(b), a sentence involving post-release supervision imposed after the commencement of this subsection shall include a condition requiring the sex offender to attend all appointments with the probation officer whose supervision he or she is under and to comply with the lawful instructions of that officer.”,

(b) by the insertion of the following section after section 30:

“Power of court to amend conditions or include new conditions

30A.(1) In any case where a court has imposed on a sex offender, for an offence committed after the commencement of this section, a sentence involving post-release supervision, the court may, on the application of a probation officer not more than one month before the date of the offender’s intended release from prison or any time during the supervision period, amend any condition for securing that supervision referred to in section 29(1)(b) or additional condition referred to under section 30 or include one or more further conditions pursuant to either of the aforesaid sections.

(2) In any case where a court has imposed on a sex offender, for an offence committed before the commencement of this section, a sentence involving post-release supervision, the court may, on the application of a probation officer not more than one month before the date of the offender’s intended release from prison or any time during the supervision period, amend any condition or include one or more further conditions pursuant to section 29(1)(b) where such conditions are necessary for securing that supervision.

(3) Subsection (2) shall apply in respect of post-release supervision orders extant at the time of the commencement of this section.

(4) Any condition referred to in subsection (1) or (2), whether an amended condition or a new condition, shall have the same effect as a condition included in a sentence involving post-release supervision.

(5) In this section “the date of the sex offender’s release from prison” means the date on which the sentence of imprisonment imposed on the sex offender expires, or as the case may be, his or her remission from the sentence begins.”,

(c) in the Schedule to the Act of 2001-

(i) in paragraph 16 by-

(I) the insertion of the following subparagraph after subparagraph (b):

“(ba) section 4A (child prostitution and child pornography);”,

(II) the insertion of the following subparagraph after subparagraph (c):

“(ca) section 5A (participation of child in pornographic performance);”,

and

(ii) the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph 17:

“17A. An offence under the following provisions of theCriminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017:

(a) section 3(obtaining, providing etc. a child for purpose of sexual exploitation);

(b) section 4(invitation etc. to sexual touching);

(c) section 5(sexual activity in presence of child);

(d) section 6(causing child to watch sexual activity);

(e) section 7(meeting child for purpose of sexual exploitation);

(f) section 8(use of information and communication technology to facilitate sexual exploitation of child);

(g) section 21(sexual act with protected person);

(h) section 22(offence against relevant person by person in authority).”.”.

This is intended to address the attachment of conditions to the post-release supervision of sex offenders under the Sex Offenders Act 2001. Under Part 5 of the Sex Offenders Act, a court can impose on a sex offender a sentence involving post-release supervision. This is imposed at the time an offender is being sentenced but will only take effect from the release of the offender from whatever prison sentence has been imposed. The supervision on release is undertaken by the Probation Service and the offender is required to comply with such conditions as are specified to secure the supervision. Failure to comply with a condition is a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment for a maximum term of 12 months.

We have recently been made aware that, in some very few cases, an order is made without conditions being imposed. This means that if an offender does not co-operate with a supervising probation officer, no offence is committed and, in effect, a breach of the order cannot be sought. This amendment will amend the relevant section to provide that a sentence involving post-release supervision shall automatically include a condition requiring the sex offender to attend all appointments with his or her probation officer, whose supervision he or she is under, and to comply with the lawful instructions of that officer.

Effectively, all orders for post-release supervision will contain automatic and inhering conditions as set out in paragraph (a) of this amendment. Paragraph (b) allows a probation officer to apply to the court one month prior to the release of the offender to amend any of the conditions imposed in regard to post-release supervision. This recognises that, depending on the length of the prison sentence, the type of conditions which are necessary to secure the post-release supervision of the offender may have changed from the time of the original sentence, as the offender's needs may have changed over that time. I hope I have the support of the House in this regard.

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