Ireland and UK join forces to track sex offenders
The Irish and British governments will sign a joint agreement next week to stop sex offenders secretly travelling between both jurisdictions.
The memorandum of understanding will aid police investigations of sex offences and also serve to protect the public.
Justice Minister Michael McDowell will sign the charter at Hillsborough on Monday with ministers from the UK Home Office and the Northern Ireland Office.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told the Dáil today that close co-operation on the issue already existed between the Garda, the PSNI and British police.
He said the memorandum of understanding will enhance the existing information-sharing arrangements on sex offenders between the Republic, the North and the UK.
He added: “Clearly one can never say that nobody can get through the system but everything that has been recorded is available to our police. There are nominated gardaí in each division who have a part to play. Pulse is updated on the position. The Gardaí have the power to monitor convicted sex offenders coming here from abroad and the power to seek a sex offenders order against them if they think they are a danger to the public.”
An intergovernmental advisory group on registered sex offenders has already been established to enable continued and close co-operation and information between these islands.
Earlier, raising the issue, Opposition leader Enda Kenny said a paedophile secretly living in a community was every parent’s nightmare.
He added: “Following the assault of two young girls in Dublin at the weekend, there is genuinely great fear, anxiety and concern among parents all over the country about the way we regulate these issues and about the legislation that is in place.”
Mr Kenny warned that a UK website may be unwittingly driving child sex offenders from Britain into Ireland.
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (www.ceop.gov.uk) locates offenders who have failed to comply with notification requirements.
He added: “The difficulty exacerbated in this country is that while the details on the UK’s most wanted offenders are now posted on a dedicated website, one of them has been identified as living and working in Donegal for the past two years.
“It appears that if a convicted sex offender here wishes to work in one county, that he or she can register in another. The concentration through this site on Great Britain is now having an effect – alleged, perceived or real – of sex offenders and paedophiles arriving in this jurisdiction. This is obviously of great concern.”
