Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 39:

In page 30, after line 35, to insert the following: “30.The Minister shall, within 6 months of the passing of this Act, lay before both Houses of the Oireachtas a report on how registered sex offenders are able to change their name or other aspects of their identity without the knowledge of the Garda Síochána with the intention of subverting the purpose of this Act.”.

This is a related issue. I thank my colleague, Sarah Champion MP, from the UK and her advisor Lucy Cserna for their assistance on this issue, which is one that affects both Ireland and the United Kingdom. A sex offender may change their name by deed poll in order to circumvent the monitoring under the sex offenders register. There have been published examples of this happening in the UK. I have previously given the example in the House of a Terry Price who committed a string of sexual offences over three decades and changed his name on five occasions. Having spoken to gardaí involved in the monitoring of sex offenders, it is nearly standard procedure now that convicted sex offenders are changing their names by deed poll to ensure they can avoid monitoring and that they do not come to the attention of people.

I have not been able to draft an amendment to the legislation here. My colleague in the UK has not been able to do it either. This is a problem across both jurisdictions with the use of deed polls to change names to restrict the ability of the authorities to monitor these offenders and we need to address it. The Minister is going to come back in and tell me that if a sex offender changes their name under this legislation they have a responsibility to inform the Garda of that. I ask that the Courts Service, when someone changes their name, make the information available to the Garda so gardaí do not have to wait for a sex offender to come and declare themselves. It will be done through a third party, namely the Courts Services, and the Garda will be advised of that fact as it happens rather than at some stage down the road.

The difficulty is we have a very high rate of breaches of the existing sex offenders register. This legislation will give the Garda tools to effectively monitor sex offenders but leaving loopholes in the legislation that can be exploited by convicted sex offenders makes it more difficult. This is one loophole that is being exploited both in this jurisdiction and in the UK. The mechanism to change one's name by deed poll is being used to try to avoid monitoring and detection and this is an issue that must be addressed. It is one the gardaí who are monitoring sex offenders around the country have brought to my attention and told me is a specific problem they are dealing with and that they need the tools to do so.

I accept that it is a complex area. The easiest mechanism to use involves having a clear provision or direction to the Courts Service to make gardaí aware of changes that would happen. That would get around this issue and ensure far more effective monitoring of those high-risk sex offenders who have a determination to exploit again. We need to ensure that every possible avenue is closed off where that is feasible. I accept that there will always be risks. We can never be entirely certain. Let us ensure that we close as many of these loopholes as possible. I ask the Minister to consider my proposal.

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