Electronic monitoring of sex offenders due by Q2 2018

A new law introducing electronic monitoring for sex offenders could be in place by Spring, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has said.

According to the National Strategy for Women and Girls 2017-2020, which was launched yesterday, legislation to “strengthen the supervision of sex offenders” will be in place by Q2 2018.

The new law will amend the Sex Offenders Act 2001 to allow for electronic monitoring and to introduce more robust provisions relating to notification requirements and risk assessments.

Ms Fitzgerald said: “Sexual violence is a fact of life in our society. There’s a lot of influences in terms of pornography, pornographic images and child paedophilia, trafficking of women and girls.

“We have to be absolutely sure that when they have served sentences and that when they’re in the community that the legislation is as strong as possible.”