Dan Neville
Ceist:33 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when he will honour his commitment of May 1998 to introduce a child sex offenders' register. [11574/99]
Priority Questions. - Sex Offenders' Register.
The Government's Action Programme for the Millennium contains a commitment to introduce a register of sex offenders. In February last I sought and obtained Cabinet approval for the preparation of a Bill to provide for the establishment of such a register, the principal focus of which will be offences against children.
The Bill will also deal with post-release supervision of sex offenders by the Probation and Welfare Service and separate legal representation in certain circumstances for complainants of rape and serious sexual assault. In addition, I hope to include in the Bill a new civil court order against a sex offender whose behaviour in the community gives the Garda reasonable cause for concern that the order is necessary to protect the public from serious harm. I am also examining the possible creation of a new offence for a convicted child sex offender to look for or accept employment or a voluntary position involving unsupervised access to children.
These measures arise, in the main, from the discussion paper on the law on sexual offences which I published in May of last year and are in line with the responses received to that paper. The measures raise complex legal and constitutional issues which will inevitably influence the shape of the Bill.
Preparation of this legislation will continue to be given a high priority within my Department. I expect to be in a position to circulate the heads of the Bill to all Departments next week, with a view to bringing the matter before Government by the end of this month, for approval to draft. I hope the Bill will be published shortly thereafter. Clearly, much will depend on successfully dealing with the legal and constitutional issues involved.
I thank the Minister for his reply. What will be the registration procedures, to whom will they apply and will the notification requirement extend to those convicted of similar offences in the UK? What requirements are envisaged for the disclosure of information and to whom will they apply? By whom will information be disclosed and what will be the extent of such disclosures?
The sex offenders' register will be similar to those which operate in Britain and Northern Ireland. It will be a tracking system, a means for the Garda to be aware, at all times, of the addresses of convicted offenders who, on their release from prison, will have to notify their names and addresses to the Garda. Any subsequent changes to their names and addresses will have to be similarly notified. Failure to notify will be an offence. The length of time a person's name must remain on the register will be set out in the Bill, probably by reference to the seriousness of the offence and with some modification for juvenile offenders. If it is feasible to extend the notification requirements to sex offenders coming here from abroad, that will be done. That should act as a deterrent to any child sex offenders coming here from those jurisdictions. The UK law does not extend to persons leaving the UK. The purpose of the register is preventative not punitive. It will be an administrative vehicle enabling the gardaí to keep track of the whereabouts of convicted sex offenders.
Deputy Neville asked who would have access to the register. The gardaí in consultation with the relevant State agencies, such as the probation and welfare service and health boards, will undertake continuous risk assessment of those whose names will be on the register. Information will be disclosed only to other persons in the most exceptional circumstances in order to prevent an immediate risk of crime or to alert members of the public to the apprehended danger and then, only on a strict need to know basis, administrative arrangements will be put in place to this end.
Will there be a system to decide the length of time a person would stay on the register?
Grave consideration must be given to what the Deputy suggested. The length of time for which an individual should remain on the register must be based upon the seriousness of the offence in the first instance. The intention at this time is to have a sliding scale based on the seriousness of the offence. There are likely to be circumstances where an individual would find his name on the register for all of his life.
The Minister informed me earlier this year that from the period September to December 1998 approximately 100 incidents—
Deputy, it is not in order to quote during Question Time.
The Deputy may refer to the matter.
I refer to that matter. The Minister informed me that approximately 100 incidents of reported approaches were made to children in that four month period. That is an average of 25 per month. What measures has the Minister introduced to deal with this serious problem? I appreciate a child sex offenders' register would play a role in this regard, but it is not a panacea for dealing with the issue as presented previously by the Minister.
I regard this matter as extremely serious. That is why I published the discussion paper and I am bringing forward the most revolutionary legislation on sexual offences.