Naughten describes ireland as a safe haven for uk convicted sex offenders

Denis Naughten TD has told the Taoiseach in the Dáil that “it is likely some of the 400 convicted rapists and paedophiles missing in the UK are residing in Ireland”.
Deputy Naughten added that such sex offenders pose an unacceptable risk to women, children and vulnerable adults because of outdated sex offenders register.

In 2009, said Deputy Naughten, the then Justice Minister told the Dáil that the failure to modernise the law on the registration of sex offenders would lead to Ireland becoming a safe haven for convicted sex offenders. Yet, over 74 months later, he said, “this gaping hole in our so called Sex Offenders Register has not been closed off”.

According to Deputy Naughten, “the failure to close down this loophole could have catastrophic implications for vulnerable children, particularly in light of the disclosure that up to 400 convicted sex offenders have gone missing in the UK”.

“This is because any of these convicted rapists or paedophiles can visit Ireland from Britain or Northern Ireland unknown to the authorities and can roam around the country without having to register with the Gardaí. This also applies to convicted sex offenders released from prison in the Republic, or those who move from one location to another within this country. In theory, the same notification procedure applied to Irish sex offenders applies for those convicted of serious sexual offences in other jurisdictions, but it is reliant on the offender being flagged at passport control on entering the Country,” said Deputy Naughten.

“There already have been a number of instances where dangerous sex offenders wanted by the police in either Northern Ireland or Britain were subsequently located in the Republic. At least three of the sex offenders that have disappeared are wanted by the PSNI in Northern Ireland,” he added.

“While a similar notification period of seven days was in place in Northern Ireland and other parts of the UK, this was changed some time ago, and as a result the then Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern, said a three day notification period in this jurisdiction would ensure a harmonisation of our laws in that respect and should ensure that none of our jurisdictions becomes a safe haven for convicted sex offenders. However, the reality is, the current law governing the conditions for registration, the Sex Offenders Act 2001, is not fit for purpose and needs urgent reform to ensure more effective management of sex offenders,” said Deputy Naughten.

The south Roscommon deputy said that although Government is committed to reforming the law in this area, it is taking far too long to close off dangerous loopholes in the monitoring of high risk sex offenders and leaves our system open for abuse.

Deputy Naughten received the approval of the Dáil in October 2013 to introduce a new law which would, not only close off a number of registration loop holes but would also create a system which would enable parents to enquire whether persons coming into contact with their child or vulnerable adult have been convicted of a sexual offence or otherwise pose a serious danger. However, this law has been stalled in the Justice Committee since that date.

Outlining the detail of the Child Sex Offenders (Information and Monitoring) Bill 2012, Deputy Naughten said: “Not only does the new law give the Gardaí more powers to monitor high risk convicted sex offenders but it is also important that there is more input from local communities. That’s why it is imperative that it is not just the Gardaí who monitor sex offenders but under certain conditions, parents should have the right to know if a high risk paedophile has access to their child. Such a law would have the added benefit of bring suspicions activity to the attention of the Gardaí, thereby, in some cases leading to further prosecutions for breaches of sex offenders release conditions and hopefully apprehending any of the 400 UK offenders who may be residing here in Ireland.”