Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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524. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she will introduce minimum sentencing laws for sex crimes involving children; if she will reform existing legislation in order that a defendant who has not previously been convicted of an offence cannot have this taken into consideration when sentencing for sex crimes involving children and so that a guilty plea not be considered a mitigating factor; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19347/24]

Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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525. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if effective restrictions can be imposed on those accused or convicted of sex crimes involving children when they are on bail or when they have received a suspended sentence; if she is aware that confining a person to postcode districts means they can still live within ten minuets of their victims; if convicted offenders can be restricted to being within a ten mile radius of their victims; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19348/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 524, 525 and 535 together.

The Government takes the issue of sexual exploitation of children very seriously and there is comprehensive legislation in place to deal with these offences.

The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act was enacted in 2017. This wide-ranging piece of legislation significantly enhanced the laws combatting the sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children.

Among the provisions of the 2017 Act are measures to strengthen significantly the existing criminal law in combating child exploitation and, in particular, to address the use of modern communication technologies as a tool which may lead to child sexual exploitation.

Ireland ratified the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (known as the "Lanzarote Convention") on 21 December 2020. The Convention entered into force in Ireland on 1 April 2021.

Part 2 of the Criminal Justice (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 which strengthens the law relating to the sexual exploitation of children, including child sexual abuse material, and criminalises the use of information and communication technology to facilitate such exploitation, ensures the State’s full compliance with criminal law provisions in that Convention.

The Deputies will also wish to be aware that the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2019 amended the 2017 Act to provide for specified minimum penalties for repeat sexual offenders.

This applies where a person is convicted on indictment of a sexual offence and sentenced to 5 years or more in prison. If that person commits a subsequent sexual offence within ten years of their first conviction, the court must impose a minimum jail term of not less than three quarters of the maximum term for the sexual offence in question. If the maximum term is life imprisonment then the term imposed must be a minimum of 10 years. This can be disregarded where the court feels it would be disproportionate in all the circumstances of the case; it also does not apply to child offenders.

To further strengthen our legislation in this area, I commenced the Sex Offenders (Amendment) Act 2023 last November. This legislation provides for stricter oversight and management of convicted sex offenders within the community by, among other things, strengthening the notification requirements for sex offenders and providing for the court to prohibit a sex offender from working with children.

It also provides additional powers to An Garda Síochána to take photographs, fingerprints and palm prints from a convicted sex offender and has given Gardaí the power to disclose information regarding a convicted sex offender to a third party in certain circumstances.

As the Deputies are aware, under the Constitution and the law, the Courts are independent in their functions. The conduct of any court case is a matter for the presiding judge and it is not possible for the Minister or the Department of Justice to comment on, or intervene in, the conduct or the outcome of court proceedings.

The restricting of a person’s liberty is a serious issue, given the Constitutional presumption that a person is deemed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. While the State’s bail laws do provide for the refusal of bail in certain circumstances, the presiding Judge is entirely independent in the exercise of their judicial functions, which of course includes the decision to grant bail in a particular case. In considering whether to refuse bail, the Court is required to have regard to persistent serious offending by an applicant, any convictions for offences that were committed while on bail and, in specific circumstances, the nature and likelihood of any danger to a person or to the community from granting bail.

It is also a matter solely reserved to the presiding judge to decide where on the sentencing range a convicted person should be placed having regard to the individual circumstances of each case. An important safeguard rests in the power of the Director of Public Prosecutions to apply to the Court of Appeal to review a sentence she regards as unduly lenient.

It is also open to a judge to impose an order under part 2 of the 2017 Sexual Offences Act 2001 that can, among other things, restrict where a sex offender can go and with whom they can engage. Nothing in the Act prescribes or precludes what a judge can include by way of exclusion zones or areas, or indeed how such areas should be referred to geographically.