Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 73: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his plans to amend the Sex Offenders Act 2001; and his views on the effectiveness of the legislation. [40406/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The Sex Offenders Act 2001 introduced a wide range of measures aimed at reducing the risk to the public from convicted sex offenders. These measures include the notification system, also known as the sex offenders register, the civil sex offender order, the provision of information for employment purposes and post-release supervision of convicted sex offenders by the probation service.

As the Act has now been in operation for more than eight years, the time is opportune for a complete evaluation of its effectiveness and that evaluation is currently under way in my Department. It forms an integral part of a major review of the criminal law governing sexual offences. The review takes into account the discussion document on the management of sex offenders and the views of interested groups made to my Department. I am also in favour of a greater approximation of the laws North and South of the Border, in particular on the operation of the respective notification systems, so that sex offenders will gain no advantage in living in or visiting either side of the Border.

It is likely that the evaluation of the 2001 Act will give rise to a recommendation for a substantial list of amendments and changes to it and when the review has been completed I will seek Government approval for the necessary legislation.

I am satisfied that the 2001 Act is operating well but that after eight years it is appropriate to consider whether it is possible to examine and improve its operation and to include in it further provisions to protect the public, in particular with advances in technology since the Act was passed into law.

Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Sex offenders represent approximately 8% of the country's overall prison population. Sex offenders cause huge concern to their victims and to the communities into which they are released. I was disturbed to read a recent article in The Sunday Tribune which proclaimed that Ireland has been a haven for 69 sex offenders since 2004. Is the Minister satisfied with the present legislation?

I welcome the Minister's announcement of a review but when will its findings be published? Is he confident that existing legislation is robust enough to deal with sex offenders originating from this country or abroad? What has he done to stop sex offenders from entering the country?

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The Bill we are preparing will probably be introduced next year. As I noted earlier, among the matters under consideration is bringing our notification system into line with that of the Northern authorities. As Minister for Foreign Affairs, I raised this issue with my counterpart, Mr. Peter Hain, because I felt that we could marry our operations on both sides of the Border. That process is ongoing because there is much we can learn from each other. There have been several cases involving people crossing the Border. We are also considering a reduction in the period for notification by convicted sex offenders of their addresses and the issue of sex grooming on the Internet.

At present, approximately 325 people are in prison for sex offences, with a further 1,100 on the register and 120 on post-release orders. Our existing legislation is robust but we are not complacent and will review it. Other issues must also be considered in the context of the legislation, not least among them the deliberations of the Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children.

Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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The Minister overlooks the fact that 70 sex offenders, rapists and paedophiles have come to this country in the past five years. What is he going to do about this problem?

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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We passed the legislation and it is up the Garda to implement it. I intend to bring forward proposals on the electronic tagging of sex offenders in the not too distant future. An interim report published in June by Department recommended introducing this practice on a pilot basis and I want to move on this as quickly as possible, although obviously I must achieve value for money. We think the measure can be viable provided it is kept to a reasonably small cohort of sex offenders on release. However, I must await the final report, which I expect in the not too distant future, before making a decision.