John Bruton
Ceist:745 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when a paedophile register will be established. [18494/99]
Written Answers. - Register of Sex Offenders.
The Government's An 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 heads of a sex offenders Bill to provide for the establishment of such a register, the principal focus of which is to be offences against children. On 1 June, following consideration by the Cabinet of the heads, I received approval for the drafting of the Bill.
In addition to the register, the Bill will 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. It will also include provision for 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. In addition, it will create an offence for a convicted child sex offender to seek or accept employment involving unsupervised access to children without informing the employer of the conviction.
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. Preparation of this legislation is being given a high priority within my Department and I expect to be in a position to publish the Bill during the current Dáil session.