Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur, ní hamháin roimh an Aire, ach roimh an reachtaíocht thábhachtach seo atá ós ár gcomhair agus atá á phlé againn inniu.

The Minister of State is welcome to the Chamber. This is a welcome Bill that adds to and strengthens the Sex Offenders Act 2001. It is an all-encompassing Bill that provides a protective umbrella for individuals targeted by sex offenders, and this protection is in the form of a statutory framework, namely, the sex offenders risk assessment and management programme. The provisions of the Bill will manage and monitor sex offenders in the community by enmeshing an offender in a scaffolding of laws and Garda scrutiny designed to restrict the offender's ability to prey on people, especially vulnerable people. The new legal measures, if enacted, will mean sex offenders must, within three days of leaving prison, notify the Garda of their name and address or of any change to their name and address within three days. They must also notify the Garda if they are going outside the State for more than three days, if they are returning to the State having been outside it for more than three days, if they are at an address in the State for three days and that address has not been notified to the Garda, or every 12 months if they have notified within the previous 12 months. Offenders will have to report in person to a local Garda station. For offenders who have no home address, the Garda can require a person to notify every third day of the place they intend to reside that night until the Garda is satisfied a home address has been acquired.

The Bill explicitly provides the court with the power to prohibit a sex offender from working with children and vulnerable adults, which is to be welcomed. It provides powers to the Garda to take fingerprints, palm prints and photographs to confirm the offender's identity. It allows the Garda, in certain extenuating circumstances, to disclose publicly information relating to persons on the sex offenders register. Sinn Féin has some concerns about that proposal and urges caution because there may be an unintended consequence of potentially identifying a victim when disclosing the identify of an offender. We support victim anonymity in cases of sex crime and we are asking the Government for more clarity around the issue. However, we will support the Bill with caution.

The Bill creates a legislative basis for the current sex offenders risk assessment management and monitoring process for high-risk offenders and sex offender orders requested by the Garda. It also allows for electronic monitoring of sex offenders. The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre has detailed its support for the amendments while calling for an increase in spending on Garda ICT. There has been little funding for the Garda ICT system in more than 20 years and it is unclear at this stage how the modest increase in budget 2023 is going to be spent.

There has been an inexcusable and indefensible delay of more than 20 years in updating this legislation and an equally unacceptable delay in tabling these amendments. They were first introduced in 2018 and pre-legislative scrutiny was completed in January 2021. When compared with some of our European counterparts, we are, unfortunately, lagging badly behind. In some countries, sex offenders registries and legislation have been operating since the mid-1990s. Bizarrely, anyone convicted of an offence under the Sex Offenders Act 2001 is said to be on the sex offenders register, even though no specific register yet exists.

Sinn Féin has been arguing for better support for victims of sex crimes before, during and after trial. These measures include anonymity, court representation and other general supports. We have discussed those measures at length with the Minister of State and the Minister for Justice, Deputy Harris. The measures we are calling for include anonymity, court representation and other general support services which are now offered by thinly financed rape crisis centres throughout the State, which are doing their very best. I am sure the Minister of State will agree that much more financial support for these centres would significantly complement both the letter and the spirit of this Bill. I hope the Minister of State will address the issues I have raised. I support the Bill.