Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As this is the European Day for the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, it is appropriate that we are discussing the Sex Offenders (Amendment) Bill 2021 today. I thank the Minister and his officials for bringing this important legislation to the House. I will be supporting this Bill which includes a number of important amendments to the sex offenders register notification requirements. It also introduces provides for electronic tagging and for a prohibition on convicted sex offenders engaging in certain types of employment. While such bans on working with children or vulnerable people have been made by the courts in the past, the Bill will now provide for an explicit power with regard to prohibition.

This Bill will address the concerns of communities around the country about the ongoing management of convicted sex offenders in the community. It introduces stricter notification requirements on offenders, will allow for electronic monitoring in certain circumstances and will explicitly prohibit convicted sex offenders from working with children or vulnerable people. The Bill fulfils commitments in Justice Plan 2021 and in the programme for Government to update the Sex Offenders Act 2001 to ensure convicted sex offenders are effectively managed and monitored. The publication of the Bill is an action in the second national strategy for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.

The key features in this Bill include a change to require sex offenders moving location to notify authorities within three days rather than seven days. It explicitly provides for the court to prohibit a sex offender from working with children and vulnerable adults. It provides powers to the Garda Síochána to take fingerprints, palm prints and photographs to confirm the identity of the person. It creates a legislative basis for the assessment and management of risk posed by sex offenders across teams involving probation officers, gardaí and Tusla. It allows the Garda Síochána to disclose information relating to persons on the sex offender register, in extenuating circumstances, for example where there is a serious threat to public safety. It allows the Garda Síochána to apply for the discharge or variation of a sex offender order.

It also allows, as mentioned, for electronic monitoring of sex offenders to assist in ensuring an offender’s compliance with a sex offender order or post-release supervision order.

The latest numbers from An Garda Síochána show there are 1,708 persons currently subject to the reporting requirements of Part 2 of the Sex Offenders Act 2001. Included in that figure is a total of 319 sex offenders being supervised by the Probation Service currently living in the community. There are 192 such offenders on post-release supervision in the community by the Probation Service. The remainder are notifying at Garda stations. In addition to those currently subject to the reporting requirements, there are 433 people in custody having been convicted of a sex offence since 2001 who will be subject to reporting restrictions on release.

The Bill places the current sex offenders risk and assessment and management, SORAM, monitoring process for high-risk offenders on a statutory footing. This is particularly welcome. SORAM involves the joint management of sex offenders by An Garda Síochána and the Probation Service with the involvement of the Child and Family Agency, Tusla, where there are child protection concerns and with other agencies where necessary. I hope SORAM can address some of the issues Deputy Naughten just spoke about, especially those relating to the identity and the onus on the sex offender to notify gardaí. Hopefully that is something the Minister of State can take up on Committee Stage when the time comes. SORAM currently operates on a non-statutory basis. The Bill also provides a power to gardaí to disclose information about a sex offender’s previous convictions to a member or members of the public where the offender poses a risk of causing further harm. The purpose of proposals relating to SORAM and the proposals on the disclosure of information relating to sex offenders is specifically to provide a legislative underpinning to the current administrative processes.

Many of the provisions in this Bill are welcome. They will update legislation in this area and help to protect women, children and vulnerable people in our community. However, I believe this Bill could go further. I would like to see restrictions on travel abroad, for example. Currently, where there is good co-operation between police forces and there are high child protection standards, such as in Northern Ireland, the UK and across much of Europe, the safeguarding policies work well. Sadly though, this is not the case in many countries such as Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines, to name a few. They are struggling to deal with the issues of sex tourism, trafficking and exploitation, despite the best efforts of many local agencies, campaigners and elected representatives in those jurisdictions. The Minister of State will be aware that last month I reintroduced the Sex Offenders (Amendment) Bill 2018 which seeks to give courts the option of issuing restrictions on travel when passing sentence. I ask the Minister of State to consider amendments on Committee Stage which might strengthen this Bill and provide for travel restrictions on sex offenders. I believe it is linked to the intention of this Bill and ask the Minister of State and the officials to take that on board and examine the request.

I appreciate all the work the Minister of State and the officials have done to progress this legislation. I hope Deputies from right across the House will support this positive legislation which will help to safeguard women, children and vulnerable people in our communities.

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