Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 250: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the nature of the sex offenders register maintained; his plans to extend access to this information to additional groups or agencies in the community; and if he is satisfied with the degree of protection provided by this system particularly where children might be at risk. [35587/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The Sex Offenders Act which commenced on 27 September 2001 sets out the obligations on persons convicted of a range of sexual offences against both children and adults. A convicted sex offender must notify his/her name(s), date of birth and current home address to the Garda Síochána within seven days of the conviction for the sexual offence concerned or, where the offender is sentenced to imprisonment, from the date of full release from prison.

Thereafter, the offender must notify the Gardaí of any change of name or address within seven days of that change. Notification of any address where the offender spends either as much as seven days or two or more periods amounting to seven days in any twelve month period must also be given to the Gardaí.

If the offender intends to leave the State for a period of seven days or more s/he must inform the Gardaí of this fact and the address at which s/he intends to stay and also notify the Gardaí of his/her return. If s/he did not intend to stay away for more than seven days but did, s/he must inform the Gardaí within a further seven days. The provisions of the Act extend to any sex offenders entering this jurisdiction from abroad who have an obligation to register in their own countries or who have been convicted abroad of an offence comparable to one covered by the Act.

Part 4 of the Sex Offenders Act 2001 provides that it is an offence for convicted sex offenders to apply for, or to accept, work or to offer services, a necessary and regular part of which consists mainly of unsupervised access to, or contact with, children or mentally impaired persons, without informing the employer or organisation of his/her conviction for a qualifying sexual offence.

It is an offence to fail to comply with the notification requirements. The penalty is imprisonment for up to 12 months or a fine of €1,900 or both. The courts can also sentence an offender who has been found guilty of an offence under the schedule of offences in the Act to a period of statutory supervision under the Probation and Welfare Service on their release from prison.

Before an offender is released from prison, the Prison Service must inform him/her that they are subject to the notification requirement of the Act. Ten days before the date of release, the Prison Service must inform the Garda Síochána that s/he is being released.

The Garda Síochána has in place a system for the monitoring of persons subject to these requirements. The Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit monitor and manage the notification provisions. The information on persons who are subject to the requirements of the Sex Offenders Act, 2001 is maintained at a central location. Only specified nominated Garda personnel have access to this information.

There are nominated Garda Inspectors in each Garda Division who are notified by the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit when a sex offender, who is subject to the requirements of the Act, is resident in their Division. These inspectors are responsible for the monitoring of such offenders. The Garda authorities are currently preparing to computerise the system for recording persons subject to the requirements of the Act and integrate it into the PULSE system.

As of the 27 October, 2006 there were 972 persons subject to the requirements of Part 2 of the Act. The Criminal Law (Trafficking in Persons and Sexual Offences) Bill 2006, which has been approved by Government and forwarded to the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel for drafting, contains amendments and additions to the Act, including amendments to the notification system. The Joint Committee on Child Protection is at present examining a wide range of issues relating to the protection of children, in particular protection against sexual abuse. The Committee is due to report back to each House with recommendations in a final report by 30 November 2006. I will await completion of that report before considering any further changes to the operation of the notification system.