Cross-Border sex offenders deal signed

Authorities on both sides of the Border have signed a deal to improve the sharing of information on the movements of sex offenders between Garda and PSNI jurisdictions.

The memorandum of understanding - the first such arrangement in the world - will help the two forces to share information and track the movement of registered sex offenders throughout Ireland and the United Kingdom.

The agreement was signed in Belfast by Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell and Northern Ireland Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker, and it will cover the whole of the United Kingdom - England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales - and the Republic.

Mr McDowell said the gardaí and the PSNI have been swopping information on sex criminals informally for some time. "This memorandum of understanding will put arrangements on a formal footing," he said. "I am confident that our police forces will use this memorandum to ensure the safety of people in our countries."

Mr Coaker said the deal "sets out an important precedent so that the police will always know when a convicted sex offender is travelling between the two countries".

Under current laws, people on the sex offenders' register in the Republic and the United Kingdom are obliged to inform their local police if they plan to travel abroad.

In the Republic, they have to notify the Garda if they intend to leave the country for more than seven days. In addition, any such offenders arriving in Ireland from abroad must notify the Garda if they stay here for over a week.

In the United Kingdom, they must tell police if they are leaving for over three days. The police have the power to stop them if they feel they should not be allowed travel.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern insisted in the Dáil last week was no evidence that sex offenders from other jurisdictions were abusing the system here.

He was replying to Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, who said that Irish law and enforcement measures should be on a par with the approach adopted by the United Kingdom, given the common travel area that existed between both jurisdictions.

Mr Kenny was reacting to reports of sex offenders arriving in Ireland and living here without Garda supervision.

Mr Ahern said a system was in place to monitor offenders under which Garda inspectors in each Garda division were notified when a registered offender came to live in their division. Those officers were responsible for monitoring offenders.

"When offenders go on the sex offenders' register, the convictions are recorded on the Garda computer system - Pulse - even if those offenders had committed their crimes in another jurisdiction," he said.

"This means that offenders' criminal records would show up in any vetting process, including if they sought work in any of the vulnerable areas such as schools or health services where they might have access to children," Mr Ahern said.