By Claire Corrigan
The Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has announced new legislation to be published in the coming days, that will strengthen the monitoring and management of sex offenders, but a Mullingar woman, who was raped in her teens, believes improvements are still needed in the courts system.
The new legislation – the Sex Offenders (Amendment) Bill – will allow for the electronic tagging of sex offenders in some circumstances.
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 offenders working with children or vulnerable people.
The new law will further allow for electronic monitoring as well as fingerprinting and photographing of the offender to confirm their identity.
This electronic monitoring is aimed at ensuring an offender complies with a sex offender order or post release supervision order.
