Source: rte.ie 11/13/23 A range of laws which have come into effect will mean gardaí will now be able to disclose information about sex offenders to others if there is a threat to public safety. The Department of Justice said that “in extenuating circumstances”, the laws allow for An Garda Síochána to disclose information relating to people on the sex offender register. It also places the current Sex Offender Risk Assessment and Management (SORAM) monitoring process for sex offenders on a statutory footing. SORAM is the joint management process by…
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Ireland: Sex offender allowed move back into family home
Source: roscommonherald.ie 3/20/23 A father and convicted sex offender is to be immediately allowed to return home to live with his wife and children after spending more than two and a half years apart. The man moved out of the family home in September 2020 as part of a Tusla safety plan for his three children aged under 18. Tusla, the Child and Family Agency (CFA) intervened after discovering that the man is a convicted sex offender. Now, after living alone away from the family since September 2020, Judge Mary…
Read MoreGA: US probation officer told Irish sex offender facing homelessness ‘to go and live in tent’
Source: breakingnews.ie 2/8/22 An Irish man who was jailed for trying to entice a child for indecent purposes was told to “go and live in a tent” by a probation officer in the United States, the Court of Appeal was told on Tuesday. Martin ___(46) was caught in a police sting in the State of Georgia after he sent a nude selfie to an Internet chatroom user he believed was 13-year-old girl. He later fled the US to Ireland while on probation, and has been fighting attempts to extradite him…
Read MoreIreland: Electronic tagging of sex offenders under new legislation
Source: rte.ie 11/10/21 Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has announced legislation that will allow for the electronic tagging of sex offenders in some circumstances. She said the Sex Offenders (Amendment) Bill – expected to be published in the coming days – would strengthen the monitoring and management of these offenders. The legislation introduces stricter notification requirements – meaning sex offenders will have to inform the gardaí of a change of address within three days instead of the current seven days. It also explicitly provides for the courts to prohibit sex…
Read MoreIreland: Plans for sex offenders in Ireland to face tougher laws
Source: bbc.com 11/10/21 Plans for new legislation to strengthen the management and monitoring of sex offenders in the Republic of Ireland have been announced. Electronic tagging and a ban on convicted offenders having certain jobs would be introduced under the plans. The bill was announced by the Republic of Ireland’s Justice Minister Helen McEntee TD on Wednesday. Ms McEntee said the legislation would help alleviate concerns in communities about sex offenders. “It introduces stricter notification requirements – meaning offenders will have to inform the Gardaí (Irish police) of a change…
Read MoreIreland: Cork neighbourhood targeted by leaflet campaign accusing man of being sex offender
[corkbeo.ie – 9/4/20] A community on the northside of Cork city were targeted overnight by a vigilante leafleting campaign in which a man was accused of being a sex offender. Leaflets featuring a photograph and a name were left on cars overnight in the vicinity, with locals speaking of their distress when they discovered them this Friday morning. There have been several instances of the leaflets being left along a number of streets in the neighbourhood. Read the full story
Read MoreIreland: Vigilantes suspected as child porn man’s car torched in attack
[herald.ie – 8/15/20] Gardaí are closely monitoring the situation after a 59-year-old convicted child porn offender was targeted by vigilantes twice within the space of a week. It is understood that officers have given David _____ security advice after his car was torched near his home off Drogheda Street in Balbriggan on Tuesday evening. The arson attack happened just four days after vigilantes smashed up the same vehicle. Our images show _____’s car on fire in an incident that is being investigated by Balbriggan gardaí. “An exact motive for this…
Read MoreIreland: Laws to protect sex offenders’ identities must be considered, says outgoing probation chief
[irishtimes.com – 1/1/20] Ireland should consider introducing privacy laws to protect the identities of sex offenders being released back into the community, the outgoing director of the Probation Service believes. Such laws, which are in place in several other countries, would prevent the public naming of offenders in the media and would aid in their rehabilitation and therefore reduce the risk of re-offending, Vivian Geiran said. “I certainly think there is a case to be made for that,” Mr Geiran said in an interview ahead of his retirement after seven…
Read MoreIRE: How Ireland deals with sex offenders after they’re released from prison
AT ANY ONE time there are between 400 and 450 people convicted of sexual violence in custody in Irish prisons. … During his time in prison, ____ declined to participate in the Building Better Lives programme, a rehabilitation service for sex offenders, despite meeting many of the conditions. These criteria include a prison sentence of longer than 18 months, full admission of the offence, robustness of personality to withstand the challenge of the group and some literacy capacity. Full Article
Read MoreIreland: Gunman shoots at wrong house in Dublin ‘after thinking sex offender lived there’
[thejournal.ie – 10/14/18] AN INNOCENT FAMILY was lucky to escape injury after a number of shots were fired into their house in Dublin by a shooter who gardaí believe was targeting a convicted sex offender, TheJournal.ie has learned. The case of mistaken identity happened on Tuesday night in Crumlin. Around four shots were fired through the front door of the house at approximately 10pm. There were four people in the house at the time. Nobody sustained any injuries. Gardaí believe the gunman got the wrong home. The family who live…
Read MoreIreland and US agree to share travel information of convicted child sex offenders
MINISTER SIMON COVENEY today secured approval to sign a letter of intent with the US to allow the exchange of international travel information of convicted child sex offenders. The approval by Cabinet today will allow An Garda Síochána to sign the letter of intent with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations to facilitate the sharing of travel information of sex offenders from the US to Ireland and vice versa. While such information has been shared in the past, this memorandum puts the agreement between the two countries on…
Read MoreIreland: Proposal to restrict sex offenders from travelling abroad
[rte.ie 5/2/18] Independent TD Maureen O’Sullivan has proposed legislation to restrict sex offenders from travelling abroad. Launching the Sex Offender’s Amendment Bill during Private Member’s time in the Dáil, she said the aim was to protect children who are easy prey in countries where the authorities cannot or will not protect them. Conservative estimates put the number of children trafficked at four and a half million, she told the Dáil this evening. She also said the increase in global travel had created more opportunities for abuse. Deputy O’Sullivan also raised…
Read MoreIreland: Falsely accused Belfast man slams vigilante paedophile hunters
[belfasttelegraph.co.uk] A Belfast law graduate has called for new legislation to curb vigilante paedophile hunters after he was wrongly identified as a sexual predator and falsely accused of grooming children. The Queen’s University graduate was left confused following a sudden influx of friend requests on social media, before it became apparent that he shared the same name as one of the vigilante group’s targets. A barrage of profane abuse soon followed. “It made me feel sick to the stomach. I was so angry when I realised what had happened, so…
Read MoreIreland: Teenage sex offenders a growing challenge for social workers
In world of online porn, more than 25% of sex offenders found by Garda are teenagers. What’s the best way to deal with sex offenders? Most people would probably answer they should be locked up, ideally for a long time. But what if the offender in question is a 17-year-old? Or as young as 12? This is where Joan Cherry comes in. She is one of a small number of social workers who have worked with young sexual offenders – or as she prefers to refer to them, “young people in…
Read MoreIRE: Seeking to track sex offenders poses human rights questions
The idea of electronic tagging for sex offenders is not a new one. It was considered by the Department of Justice in 2009 in relation to the Discussion Document on the Management of Sex Offenders, and continued to gain political interest in the following years, up to the recent announcement that new legislation will make provision for this perceived shortcoming in our law. Full Article
Read MoreIreland: Irish MP Patrick Nulty quits over ‘inappropriate’ Facebook messages
An Irish parliamentarian has resigned after admitting he sent inappropriate messages to a teenage girl on Facebook. Independent MP Patrick Nulty said he had been “under the influence of alcohol” when he sent messages to a 17-year-old. His shock resignation came hours before Irish tabloid the Sunday World was due to print the story. Full Article
Read MoreNew treatment for sex offenders reduces repeat crimes by 70%
Sex offenders are 70 per cent less likely to reoffend if they are part of a restorative justice programme which exists in other countries but has not yet been introduced inIreland, a conference heard yesterday. The Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) programme was developed in Canada and 100 such programmes are now in operation in the UK for sex offenders who have been released from prison. Full Article
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