Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy outlined, the Bill provides that a sex offender can notify at any Garda station that has been designated by the Garda Commissioner for that purpose or at any divisional headquarters. In this way, we are not limiting the offender in notifying at his or her local station. By drafting the provision in this way, a sex offender who regularly resides in Cork but who might by chance be in Donegal for three days can and will notify gardaí in Donegal that he or she is in the area.

I reassure the Deputy that the way we have set this out has been undertaken in consultation with the Garda. If, therefore, an offender notifies gardaí at a different station than the one in the area where he or she would normally reside, that information will be reported on the PULSE system. It is not only available to be viewed nationally but, in cases where a core change has been made to an offender's details, such as, for example, a change of address, in cases where a person is not just visiting another area, an automatic email will notify all persons who have access to the sex offender's details on the PULSE system, including the sex offender's management and the intelligence unit.

The Commissioner will designate the various stations throughout the country at which sex offenders can register and notify, and this information will be published on the Garda website. What we have set out in this legislation, therefore, has been done in consultation with the Garda Commissioner. It is not to restrict where sex offenders can register themselves but to try to ensure that if they are moving or are outside the home places where they are designated, they can still register, even if they are moving for only a short time.

Compliance in this area is high. There is nothing in the figures applying to this section to suggest there is significant non-compliance. Compliance is still high, and everything we have set out here has, as I said, been done in consultation with An Garda Síochána. The force feels it will operate and support the work it is doing. Gardaí will have access to changes made and information in this regard via the PULSE system, which I think is the correct way to do this.

Amendment No. 3 allows for a member of An Garda Síochána not below the rank of inspector to change the interval between notifications for offenders who do not have a permanent home address. The purpose of this amendment, which I previously flagged on Committee Stage, is to allow a member of An Garda Síochána of any rank to inform an offender that the interval between notifications has been changed. The decision to change a notification will still have to be taken by a member of the force not below the rank of inspector.

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