Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. Fianna Fáil welcomes the Bill to strengthen the monitoring and management of sex offenders. The Bill includes a number of amendments to the sex offenders register notification requirements. It also provides for electronic tagging and a prohibition on convicted sex offenders engaging in certain jobs. While such bans on working with children and vulnerable groups have been made by the courts in the past the Bill will provide an explicit power of prohibition and this is very welcome.

This important legislation will address the concerns of communities that have been raised multiple times throughout the country about the ongoing management of convicted sex offenders in our communities. It will introduce stricter notification requirements on offenders and will also allow for electronic monitoring in certain circumstances. It will also explicitly prohibit convicted sex offenders from working directly with children or vulnerable groups. The Bill fulfils commitments in Justice Plan 2021 and the programme for Government to update the Sex Offenders Act and to ensure that convicted sex offenders are effectively managed and monitored. The publication of the Bill is an action in the second national strategy for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.

Some of the key features of the Bill include a change to the register notification requirements for sex offenders. It will specifically provide for the courts to prohibit a sex offender from working with children and vulnerable adults. It will provide powers to the Garda to take fingerprints, palm prints and photographs to confirm the identity of a person. It will create a legislative basis for risks posed by sex offenders to be assessed and managed by teams involving probation officers, gardaí and Tusla. This cross-agency co-operation is very important. It will allow the Garda to disclose information relating to persons on the sex offender register in extenuating circumstances, for example, where there is a serious threat to public safety. I note the comments of the Minister of State on information not being made publicly available. It is very welcome that in certain circumstances the Garda can make a decision to provide information to relevant persons where it is deemed necessary for their safety. This is a very important development and I very much welcome it. The Bill will allow the Garda to apply for the discharge and variation of a sex offender order. It will also allow for electronic monitoring of sex offenders to assist in ensuring they are being compliant with their post-release supervision orders.

It is very important to show that agencies are working together on the monitoring of those who have been released. The significance of this issue is borne out in the figures. We know that at present 1,700 persons are subject to reporting requirements under the Sex Offenders Act. We also know that 319 of these offenders are being supervised by the Probation Service in the community and 192 are on post-release supervision by the Probation Service. The Garda is carrying out a significant body of work with the Probation Service and Tusla, all in the interests of public safety. It is important for the public to know that this level of work and monitoring is ongoing by these agencies and the public is being kept safe.I welcome that the Bill places the current sex offenders risk and assessment management monitoring process for high-risk offenders on a statutory footing. That is very important and shows parliamentary oversight by the Oireachtas of that process.

It is really important that the Bill provides power to the Garda to disclose information about a sex offender's previous convictions to a member or members of the public where the offender poses a risk of causing harm. That is really important. I am mindful today of the family of Jason Poole and the loss of his sister. I am aware that relates to a domestic violence case. It shows that if information is available at an earlier point, we may be able to save lives and protect people. It is important that the Garda is able to have the discretion and flexibility to be able to give that information where it deems it necessary. I know at times people have called for the information to be made publicly available more frequently. I can understand the logic for not doing that and that we would potentially drive those sex offenders underground which would be more of a risk to the public. The logic behind that decision is sound and worthy.

I acknowledge the Minister of State's comments about the stalking legislation that is progressing through the Dáil. Last week, I met the Minister, Deputy Harris, to find out the status of the Bill. The Minister of State will be aware that the legislation began in this House with my own Private Members' Bill. Eve McDowell and Una Ring, who helped me prepare the Bill, and I met the Minister, Deputy Harris, last week. It was great to hear that working with the Minister of State and the Department of Justice, the Bill should pass all Stages in the Dáil by next month. I hope to be able to schedule that debate in this House during April and get that legislation passed before the summer recess - probably even earlier than that, which is really positive.

Last week I spoke to the Minister, Deputy Harris, about sentencing. I am conscious of the separation of powers and I am limited in what I can say on these issues. There is certainly a growing unease among the public about the apparent lenient sentences being handed down in some cases, predominantly domestic and sexual violence cases, most often perpetrated by men against women. I am aware many hundreds of cases pass through the system. In some recent cases suspended sentences were handed down for crimes that I would regard as very serious. One could suggest, and certainly some members of the public have suggested quite strongly, that custodial sentences would have been far more appropriate in certain circumstances. It is something to be mindful of.

I am aware that 15 years ago or more, work had begun in establishing a sentencing database to try to give us a better picture of the types of sentences being handed down for certain crimes so that we can establish once and for all if there is a pattern. Are certain members of the Judiciary outliers? Maybe they are not. Maybe it is the norm. Maybe that is the standard. We just do not know because we do not have the hard evidence and data to back it up. It will make it difficult for the Minister of State, the Department and other policymakers to make meaningful change if we do not have a true picture. I urge the Minister of State to work within his Department to get that sentencing database back up and running so we can try to establish a truer picture of the types of sentences being handed down for different offences. We should have that information broken down by gender, types of offences, length of sentence and type of crime committed. This will be a longer term project perhaps over the next ten years to establish a better picture of what is going on.

Some work needs to be undertaken on continuing professional development with training being offered to members of the Judiciary when hearing very sensitive cases involving sexual crimes and violence against women. They are of a particularly sensitive nature. There are unique aspects to those types of cases which do not present in other types of cases. Specialised education and training would certainly be welcome and I am sure members would appreciate that offering. Perhaps that can be looked at in tandem with other initiatives being taken by the Department to try to ensure that we strike the right balance with the sentence being handed down, ensuring that justice is not only being done, but is seen to be done.That has been a challenge in more recent times. I commend this legislation and thank the Minister of State for his work in this space.