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

I move amendment No. 4:

In page 18, between lines 19 and 20, to insert the following: “(10A) Where the person has previously been convicted of a sexual crime against the person or a person connected with the other person and the person is on the sex offenders register for the previous crime, the term of the sentence should run concurrent to the period of time that the person remains on the sex offenders register.”.

During an earlier debate on the Sex Offenders (Amendment) Bill, which was passed by the House earlier this afternoon, I moved amendment No. 27 concerning the harassment of victims for which the perpetrator has already been charged, convicted and served their sentence. When someone who has gone through the legal system, been convicted and served their sentence is released from prison, they can continue to harass the individual whom they had abused and on foot of which the conviction was secured. I am referring to circumstances in which the perpetrator, on their release, believes that they have a right to continue to harass the individual in question. My two amendments this evening specifically relate to this.

Amendment No. 4 seeks to ensure that proceedings remain in camera. If the original proceedings associated with the conviction were held in camera, any proceedings relating to harassment should also be held in camera. If someone was convicted of a sexual offence, naturally enough that case is held in camerato protect the identity of the victim. The offender's name and details may not be released for that particular reason. We want to ensure that if someone has to go before the courts based on the harassment legislation, those proceedings should also be held in camera. When I discussed this with the Minister, Deputy McEntee, on Committee Stage, she made the point that the vast majority of these will be civil orders and all of those orders will be in camera. However, if they are not civil orders, they are not required to be held in camera. This amendment seeks to ensure that we put that particular safety net in place and I hope the Minister will accept it.

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