A new computer system for tracking the movements of convicted sex offenders will be in place by the autumn, but access to the information on the register will not be publicly available.
The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, said access to the sex offenders' register would be "strictly on a need to know basis" to avoid what he described as "witch-hunts".
The Sex Offenders Bill 2000, published yesterday, obliges sex offenders to notify the gardai of their name and address on conviction or on their release from prison.
The offenders will be given 10 days to register.
The notification requirement will also apply to any sex offenders entering the State from abroad.
The information will be held on the Garda national computer and will be available to senior gardai in the areas where sex offenders reside, as well as to officials at the probation and welfare service and relevant health board personnel.
The duration of the notification requirement will be dependent on the length of the sentence.
Those who receive a non-custodial penalty will remain on the register for five years.
Offenders who receive custodial sentences of more than two years will have lifetime notification.
However, after 10 years offenders can make a court application to have their name and address removed from the register.
The Bill also makes it an offence for a convicted sex offender to seek or accept any employment which involves unsupervised access to children without first revealing details of the conviction to the employer.
Offenders who fail to notify the gardai or provide misleading information will face a fine of up to £1,500 and/or 12 months' imprisonment.
The new legislation will also allow gardai to apply to the courts for an order to prohibit a convicted sex offender from being at locations where children congregate.
Mr O'Donoghue said the legislation would "protect vulnerable persons against abuse or attack, or the threat of harm, from persons who have already been convicted of a sexual offence and who might re-offend".
While the primary focus of the notification requirements are those who commit sexual offences against children, crimes such as rape and serious sexual assault against adults are included within the scope of the new legislation.
The introduction of the sex offenders' register was promised by the Fianna Fail-Progressive Democrat coalition in its 1997 Programme for Government.
The Minister said there was "widespread support for the concept of registration" which was already in place in Britain and the United States.
The Fine Gael spokesman on Justice, Mr Jim Higgins, criticised what he called an "undue delay in publishing the legislation which was almost identical to a private members' bill published 18 months ago by Fine Gael and which was rejected by the Minister for Justice".
There are 358 people in Irish prisons for sexual offences.
The Minister admitted there was a need for additional counselling services for sex offenders.
However, he said individuals must voluntarily seek to become involved in treatment which must be suitable to their particular problems.