Foreign sex offenders coming to Ireland will have to sign a register provided for in a Bill to be published by the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, today.
The long-awaited Sex Offenders Bill will also make it compulsory for the 360 sex offenders currently serving sentences in Irish prisons to be included on the register. It was originally believed the law would not be retrospective and would apply only to those convicted after the Bill was passed.
However, a Department of Justice source confirmed to The Irish Times last night that, following advice from the Attorney General, a formula had been found whereby those currently in prison would be included on the register.
Under the formula offenders now in jail and those convicted in the future will have to sign on at their local Garda station within 10 days of leaving prison. Failure to do this will result in an additional sentence of up to two years.
Juvenile offenders will be on the register for up to two years, and can then be removed if there is no repeat offence. Those convicted of serious offences will be on the register for life.
Foreigners found to have failed to comply with the law will face heavy penalties.
The national register will be used as a tracking system to allow the Garda i to be aware at all times of the addresses of convicted offenders. It will be an offence under the new law to fail to notify gardai of a change of address.
The register will be maintained on a database as part of the new Garda computer system. A source said last night that while the Bill would provide for some supervision of offenders on leaving prison, there would be no provision for electronic tagging.