Registered sex offenders subject to electronic tagging under new Bill

Registered sex offenders living in the community would be explicitly prohibited from working with children and could also be made subject to electronic tagging under new legislation.

The Sex Offenders (Amendment) Bill 2021 was approved by Ministers on Tuesday after being brought to the Cabinet meeting by Minister for Justice Helen McEntee.

The legislation would allow An Garda Síochána to release information on sex offenders in certain circumstances. Another major feature of the Bill is that offenders must notify a change of address within three rather than seven days.

Other powers would be given to gardaí including the taking of fingerprints, photographs and palm prints to confirm the identity of a sex offender. There would also be a specific provision prohibiting a sex offender from working with young children or with vulnerable adults.

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Gardaí would also be allowed to apply for electronic monitoring of an offender to help ensure compliance with a post-release supervision order.

Community concerns

Ms McEntee said she understood the concerns of communities about sex offenders and she hoped the Bill would “help alleviate those concerns”.

The most recent statistics show there are 1,708 people subject to the reporting requirement under the current 2001 Act. Some 319 of those are being supervised by the Probation Service and 192 are on post-release supervision in the community. The remainder notify their whereabouts at Garda stations.

In all, some 433 who have been convicted of a sex offence are in prison. Sex offenders in the community are jointly managed by an Garda, the Probation Service, as well as the child and family agency Tusla if there are child protection concerns.

While provisions for electronic monitoring are already in law for people who are on bail, or subject to orders for certain offences, no monitoring takes place.

The only instance where electronic monitoring takes place is when prisoners are given temporary release. However, that occurs only in limited circumstances.