New law lets gardaí show photos of sex offenders to warn schools

6th October 2022

Gardaí will soon be able to provide schools, colleges and crèches with photographs of registered sex offenders if they are seen acting suspiciously near their premises.

Under the new laws which Justice Minister Helen McEntee is bringing forward, gardaí will get more powers to protect the public from sex offenders.

An amendment to legislation, due before the Dáil in two weeks, will allow gardaí to give members of the public photos of known offenders who are believed to pose a risk to the public.

The move could see gardaí contacting schools, college, crèches, other institutions, or even individuals – to let them know there is a sex offender who poses a potential threat.

It was originally envisioned the legislation would allow gardaí to contact people to let them know there was a sex offender in their area, but this has now been strengthened to allow them to provide a photo of the criminal along with a warning about their activity.

Ms McEntee has been working with Independent TD Denis Naughten on strengthening sex offender legislation, to ensure communities are given a greater level of protection from criminals who pose a significant risk.

“Communities can have very understandable and legitimate concerns about sex offenders, and with this legislation we are working to help to alleviate those concerns,” Ms McEntee told the Irish Independent.

“Allowing An Garda Síochána provide a photograph of a registered sex offender, where they believe there is a legitimate risk to the public, will provide further reassurance to communities that they will be protected.

“Tackling domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is my priority, and enacting this legislation is a key action in my ‘zero-tolerance plan’, which was published earlier this year.

“I was very pleased to work with Deputy Naughten on these measures, and I know how much protecting communities means to him too,” she added.

Mr Naughten said that, on average, at least one convicted sex offender comes to the attention of gardaí every five days because they are not living at the address they have provided to authorities.

The former Independent minister said in most instances providing their current address is the only condition sex offenders have to comply with following their release from prison.

“This is just not good enough and I believe it is exposing children and women to an unacceptable risk,” he told the Irish Independent.

“The proposed law before the Dáil which I want to see enacted before the end of this year, goes a long way towards ensuring that we have a robust sex offenders register.

“I have flagged a number of areas in the new law which I believe requires further clarity and I want to acknowledge that through my engagement with Minister McEntee and her officials, some of these issues are now being addressed and other aspects clarified,” he added.

The Sex Offenders (Amendment) Bill 2021 will see a major overhaul of legislation governing the area of sex offenders released from prison.

The new laws will for the first time explicitly give the courts the power to ban a sex offender from working with children or vulnerable adults.

The legislation will also give gardaí the power to take fingerprints, palm prints and photographs to confirm the identity of an offender.

It will also introduce an official legislative regime for the assessment and management of sex offenders across teams involving probation officers, gardaí and Tusla.

And it will reduce from seven to three the number of days an offender can leave the State before they are required to alert gardaí of where they are staying.

Gardaí will also be able to electronically tag sex offenders who have been released on the condition of restricted movement.