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

I thank the Minister and her officials for their engagement on this. The legislation has been in the offing for the past 13 years. I thank the Minister's predecessors, Alan Shatter, Frances Fitzgerald and Deputy Flanagan, for the work that they did to progress this legislation. I thank the officials and their predecessors who I dealt with over the years with regard to this. It has caused plenty of grey hairs over the last 13 years. While I am not happy with the final Bill and think it could be better, it is a significant improvement on where we are. It will mean that we have a sex offenders register in this country that can actually be enforced by the gardaí. I thank the Minister for taking on board many of the suggestions that I have made about this. I ask the Minister to review some of the comments that I have made and see if we can provide further clarity during the Bill's passage through Seanad Éireann. Ultimately, it is in all our interests to ensure that we have as robust a Bill as we can. To everyone involved, I say go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir for the work that everyone has done in bringing this legislation to this point.

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