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

We have engaged with the Garda on this. I have to engage with the Garda Commissioner and his team, who represent those who are working on the ground. I have engaged with gardaí locally in respect of certain elements of this legislation. It is never easy to monitor sex offenders. With this legislation, we are trying to improve the laws that we currently have and the way in which the gardaí can monitor and how they can do their jobs. We are trying to support them as much as we can in monitoring, which will always be difficult and complex. Notification cannot be done by email. People have to go into a Garda station. They have to be there in person. They have to present themselves. If they do not, it is a crime that involves a serious penalty.

I appreciate that there will be people who will not want to comply and who will try to evade this. These are not people in prison; they are in the community. As a result, the nature of monitoring is that it is a challenging environment. That is why we have tried to introduce amendments that would restrict their ability to evade monitoring and which would support gardaí in the best way possible. I am not saying that I will not work with the Deputy to see if there is more that we can do. The amendment is very specific about laying a report before the Houses in the next six months. I will commit to looking at this to see if there are other ways in which we can support the Garda.

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