GARDA representatives have called for a "national criminal register" to help keep convicted child sex abusers from jobs where they would have access to children.
The Garda Representatives Association (GRA), at its annual conference, also heard a call for a victim alert scheme", where there would be a statutory obligation on prisoners, particularly those convicted of sexual assault to notify victims of their pending release date.
The GRA president, Mr John Healy, said the association was seeking support for a national criminal register, similar to the scheme already in use in the United States in relation to convicted paedophiles.
In the United States, he said released child sex offenders must indicate exactly where they are going to reside after release and advance bills are posted up around the town with this information.
He said "We may not be prepared to move that far, that fast. However, there should be a centralised point, such as a national criminal register, where employers and other bodies, should have, as a right, direct access to information on the previous convictions of individuals.
"Recently we have seen cases where persistent sex offenders have been employed in educational, sporting and child care areas by employers who are totally oblivious to the offender's criminal history.
A national criminal register readily accessible to any individual, would help to eliminate the possibility of employing those previously found guilty of sex abuse or child abuse in these sensitive areas.
Mr Healy said the "victim alert scheme" would help prevent the scenario where the victim of a sexual assault encounters the persona convicted of the assault "back on the streets".
The scheme, he said, would, statutorily oblige offenders to notify victims of a pending release date.
So often, the trauma of victims lands at our door as they feel they have nowhere else to turn to. This is a positive way, whereby, despite the deficiencies in the criminal justice system, the minimum amount of respect could be shown to those who have suffered. It should be a basic minimum requirement that victims of crime at all times receive prior notice of a prisoner's release.
Mr Healy was critical of the Government's decision to drop the issue of changes in the bail system from last year's referendum on Europe.
He pointed out that at last year's conference the GRA had congratulated the "Minister for Justice on her announcement that a referendum on bail would be held. "I should not have bothered. It mattered little that you have the overwhelming support of the Irish people. It mattered little that 4,500 detected offences were committed by those on bail in 1994.
"It mattered little that you had also the support of the gardai, prison officers and so many judges, throughout the country, who have railed at their inability to remand these `bail bandits' in custody. And the victims of crime mattered less.
"It is clear to everyone, as far as the Government is concerned, crime does not matter."