Define ‘sex-offender’.. In the UK just recently, a football streaker was placed on the sex offender’s register for 2 years. In the US, a 15 year old girl who shared intimate photos of herself was put on the register. Should either of those people be considered to be high-risk and monitored after release?

I said this in another article and I’ll say it here again. Sex offenders like rapists and child molesters should simply be kept in jail until they’re rehabilitated or cured (for lack of a better word). If you let them out while they’re still a threat then the prison and justice system has failed. If you think they can’t be ever changed, then why punish them for simply being born who they are? The idea of a register means that they’re still dangerous and simply shouldn’t be released. Also on a side note, should all violent crimes not have a register if that’s the case?…

This article misses one very important point (as mentioned above) there has to be different categories of sex offender. A 16yr boy having sex with a 15yr old girl is entirely different to a pedophile etc.

Wow!. I am surprised at the amount of people who are against people trying to offer support to victims of sexual abuse. In some cases, it is close to fifty per cent judging by the amount of red thumbs. Yet, none of these people choose to explain their rationale, and their obvious dislike of people displaying compassion towards people who have suffered some of the worst types of abuse known to mankind. Is there a troll convention going on that I am not aware of, or is there some after dark pedophile gathering that conspires to convince people that sexual abuse is normal?. I’m pretty much flummoxed in trying to understand the reaction here.

Let’s be clear: there is no cure for paedophilia. One study (and there are others) estimated that by the time of entry to treatment, non-incestuous paedophiles who molest boys had committed an average of 282 offenses against 150 victims. [see Linda S. Grossman, Ph.D., Brian Martis, M.D. and Christopher G. Fichtner, M.D. (1 March 1999). "Are Sex Offenders Treatable? A Research Overview". Psychiatric Services 50 (3): 349–361. PMID 10096639. Cited in Wikipedia article 'Pedophila']

Paedophiles will repeat offend — just like a serial killer. Over 30 years of research conclusively establish that NO amount of education or therapy will cure or rehabilitate paedophilia. Drug (e.g chemical castration) and other cognitive therapies merely ‘reduce’ the number of repeat offenses. That’s not to say we shouldn’t treat them – we should. Such treatment of pedophilia often requires collaboration between law enforcement and health care professionals — and our laws need to be reflective of this. Society should seek a cure to eradicate this truly horrible and devastating psychiatric disorder.

In certain cases, I would support a law to keep paedophiles locked up indefinitely. I support a public (yes, public and easily accessible via internet) register for convicted paedophiles. Please remember that paedophiles are intelligent predators who will deliberately repeat offend in cunning, calculating ways. This is a sad fact. So, yes to a register, yes to electronic & GPS monitoring, yes to restricting their access to children, and yes to requiring convicted paedophiles to provide updated photos – as often as necessary. Yes to providing our Gardai and social services with the support, authority,and funding necessary to enforce the law and protect our children.

And Yes, to enacting clear legislation to support the above. And even all this is inadequate. Children will continue to be sexually abused everyday no matter what we do. So, what are we waiting for?

Grant convicted paedophiles their human rights, by all means. They have a psychiatric disorder. Treat them. But the paedophile must forfeit his or her civil rights for the protection of society. And for their own protection. Educate and Rehabilitate the paedophile? I suggest it is our society that needs the education and it is our approach to dealing with the scourge of Paedophila that must be rehabilitated.

we have technology these days that can monitor the location of any offender at any time. These is no reason why this isn’t in use today! Remember what they have been convicted of – physically raping a child. Their rights went out the door the second they took the innocence from a child, we should do what ever needs doing to protect our children.

@ Robert Kelly,

My opinion would be, to never let them out again. They have destroyed that child’s/adult’s life forever. They will never get over it l personally don’t believe ‘rehabilitation’ would help them, I feel it’s in them and they won’t just do it once. It is an illness, I feel, one that will never go away. Many, who have raped decline counciling and/or help when they are in prison. One prime example, is that evil savage (can’t think of his name) that went to jail for a few years after kidnapping and repeatedly raping a young business women in the Dublin mountains and was just about to kill her when two walkers came on the scene. He refused help when in jail.

There should be a register and whenever that individual moves into a town/city/village area all the residents should be informed. They have the right to live and enjoy life to the full, they can’t whether there is a rapist living in their area or not. They will always have that fear for their children.

Rather unfortunate choice of photo.
Blue in this instance refers to mandatory use of PPE (personal protective equipment), which in the case of sex offenders must presumably mean a johnny.

there is nothing that comes close to being justice for a sex abuse survivor! a proper register may help to lessen repeat offences assuming the offender has been charged or reported in the first place -

Why on earth would the same school take that caretaker back, it shows a complete lack of respect for the safety of their children that this school did this and I would say that they (the school) are as much responsible for the abuse of those further four boys as the perpretator. it is no different than the people who turned a blind eye in the church.

This is typical of you to be leading the mass hysteria. You put the fear into people

Even though they are registered Sex Offenders they are slipping through the loops here in Ireland. I am aware of someone coming and going as they please within the past 18 months. What about our children, how do we keep them safe from these preditors???

@Robert Kelly

I don’t know enough to give a deeper opinion on it Robert, but I feel at this moment in time that even if they were given drugs to blunt their libido I would have the fear that they might move onto something very sinister as torture, and that would be the way they’d release whatever horrible evil feelings they are having on that child/adult. I would be too afraid to even give them that chance as it would mean another child/adult’s life destroyed because certain people in charge decided to do test trials on these drugs and ‘hope for the best that they work’.

To me, somebody that has murdered another human being does not deserve freedom to live their life. ‘A life for a life’. That also includes rapists. To me they also have destroyed that innocent person’s life and it will never be the same again, no matter how hard they try to forget what happened them. The hurt and pain would always be there.

Excellent article Andrew. Points well made. Child safety must be the priority and anything that can help the authorities prevent abuse is to be welcomed.

Excellent article. I am surprised at the amount of backlash, though. A sex-offenders registry for predatory offenders is a no-brainer. I can’t believe Ireland doesn’t already have one. I agree that a sex-offender such as a paedophile needs stringent monitoring and we need updated rules to allow for this. It is well established that paedophilia is a serious psychiatric disorder. Treatment is largely ineffective without close supervision and monitoring, even when the paedophile voluntarily participates in therapy. Experts say that it is important for the law enforcement and health professionals to be able to share data and cooperate as a part of any release program. It makes sense and is not a violation of human rights to give Gardai the power and funding necessary to monitor convicted paedophiles. Long periods of strict probation and treatment as a condition of release, are the only way to protect our society against convicted paedophiles. Remember, child molestation is a pathological mental illness. That is not an opinion; it is a medically established fact supported by years of studies. There is no known cure. It is the only illness I know of where treatment is mainly geared to protect society. Without treatment there is high risk of repeat offenses.
A distinction does need to be made between the different types of sex offenders. Not all are predatory monsters. But in all cases, they should be afforded treatment and monitored in accordance with the law and the best interests of society. I am a firm believer in respecting rights. However, the ”convicted” sex-offender loses some of their rights to privacy as a pre-condition for being integrated back into society. Not only is that prudent; it is just.

First of all, thank you Andrew for your bravery in uncovering this no doubt never-ending atrocity. I think there absolutely should be an offenders register here and collaboration with all countries, not just UK – why stop there? I am aware of a convicted offender who was registered in the UK, moved back to Ireland with his family and lives the life off the Government here, whilst continuing his perverted pursuits, hassle-free because of the lack of register here….he has been tearing families apart in this country and in UK for more than 40 years and has NEVER seen the inside of a prison for it. How do I know? I am one of his victims, as several other family members, and more recently, MY daughter – whom I tried my best to keep away from him. He posed as a potential “match” on a dating site that my daughter was using (she is 18 and living alone) and she was horrified and totally anguished to find out that the person who persuaded her to send him graphic pictures of herself, was her own uncle….what kind of depraved animal would do this? Of course since she is 18 nothing can be done, (believe me I have tried!) but had he been a registered offender, this would have not been able to happen in the first place.