Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 171: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the obligations of a person on the sexual offenders register when they move to a new area; if local residents have a right to information about oversight of such past offenders for protection of the public; if stricter provisions apply when a person has been released before the end of their sentence by way of probation or otherwise; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24544/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The Oireachtas, by virtue of the provisions of the Sex Offenders Act 2001, provides that a convicted sex offender must notify his name and current home address to the Garda Síochána within seven days of becoming subject to the notification requirements. This means that the convicted offender must notify the Garda Síochána of any change of name or address within seven days of that change. Furthermore, 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, he/she must inform the Gardaí of this fact and the address at which he/she intends to stay and also notify the Gardaí of his/her return. I am currently looking at the possibility of reducing this seven day time period and when my consideration is completed I will be bringing my proposals to Government.

As the Deputy may know the Garda Síochána has a system in place for the monitoring of all persons subject to these requirements. The Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Investigation Unit monitors and manages the notification provisions and maintains all information relating to persons who have obligations under the Act. There is a nominated Garda Inspector in each Garda Division who has responsibility for the monitoring of persons subject to the requirements of the Act in their Division. As soon as the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Investigation Unit is advised by a relevant authority, such as the Irish Prison Service, the Courts Service or a foreign law enforcement agency, of the impending release or movement of a sex offender, this information is immediately passed to the nominated Inspector.

In January 2009 I published a comprehensive discussion document on the management of sex offenders. One of the issues raised was the question of whether the name and address of sex offenders who completed their sentences should be made public, known as Megan's Law. Following publication of the document my Department invited comment and held a Forum to hear the views of a range of interested parties. The universal view of those who responded was that such a general approach to the publication of this type of information would be counter productive and would, in all probability, drive sex offenders underground where they could not be monitored and where they were more likely to re-offend. There was, however, support for the view that in particular cases where a sex offender was not cooperating or otherwise posed a specific danger, the Gardaí should continue to be in a position to warn those in danger. It is my intention to bring proposals to Government in due course that would have the effect of allowing the Gardaí to warn individuals of a particular danger or to respond to specific requests.

Apart from the notification requirements of the Sex Offenders Act, sex offenders released from prison can be subject to supervision and other restrictions. For example, Part 5 of the Act introduced a system for the supervision of sex offenders after their release from prison. Post Release Supervision Orders allow for court sanctioned supervision of offenders after their custodial sentence has expired. There are currently 40 sex offenders being supervised in the community by the Probation Service who are subject to a Court imposed Supervision Order under Part 5 of the Sex Offenders Act. An additional protection in law is that convicted sex offenders must advise their employer or any prospective employer of their conviction if the work involves unsupervised access or contact with children or mentally impaired persons.

The Deputy will also be aware that I presented the Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA Database) Bill earlier this year. As soon as that legislation is enacted we will be in a position to start work on compiling a DNA Database which will include sex offenders. It is not the norm to grant temporary release to sex offender prisoners.