ALMOST 2,000 sex offenders are living in communities across the country, according to recent figures.
Some 1,939 offenders have had their details collated by Gardai after serving jail time.
The figure is made up of people who have left prison in the 24 years since the Sex Offenders Act was published.
It stated that all sex offenders would have their details kept by Gardai after their release from jail.
And there are currently 733 people serving time for sex offences, bringing the total number of known offenders in the country to around 2,700.
Those convicted of the crime are subject to “notification” requirements, meaning they must notify the Gardai of their new address within three days of leaving prison.
And under amendments to the act, Gardai are allowed to take up-to-date pictures of any offender and can share information with a third party is they have concerns about an offender’s new living or work situation.
The convicted person must also give the name they are using and details of when they will be leaving and re-entering the country.
Child safeguarding expert Michael Lynch said that most offenders who are released are happy to meet the requirements.
Lynch worked as a Garda for 30 years and spent almost half of it in specialist units that monitor sex offenders.
He told RTE: “The visit from a garda or probation officer is probably the only visit they get from anybody as well if they’re living alone and haven’t been able to go home because of what they were convicted of.”
And he said an offender working or being close to children could be “a potential threat”.
He explained: “Someone who’s convicted of child sexual abuse offences becomes a partner with a single parent who has young children themselves. That’s a potential threat.”
Dr Margaret Fitzgerald-O’Reilly, who is a law lecturer at University of Limerick, also weighed in on the discussion.
SHORT TERM SOLUTION
She told RTE: “We need to understand that what makes people safer, and what makes society safer is working with offenders as well as victims.
“People don’t want them in their communities. So, housing becomes hugely problematic, but people have to go somewhere.”
One way of handling the issue, as set out in the new Programme for Government, is electronic tagging.
Offenders would be tagged on release from prison but as it’s currently laid out, this would last just six months.
Dr Fitzgerald O’Reilly called it a “short term solution”, adding: “You can’t tag someone forever”.
And Lynch added: “After the six months I’m just wondering about the offender, whether they feel free to go where they want and do what they want then after that, because they’re no longer tagged.”
Gardai figures revealed almost 2,000 offenders are living in the community[/caption]
