For reasons best known to himself, the Minister for Justice has decided to float the idea of a publicly accessible database of sex offenders. In the middle of an otherwise uneventful Dáil debate on Wednesday about gender-based violence, Jim O’Callaghan went on something of a tangent and committed to publishing a domestic violence register of those convicted of rape or serious sexual assault.
It was clear he wanted it to be public. He drew an analogy with the quarterly publication by the Revenue of a list of tax defaulters. “We have a situation in this country where we publish a list of tax offenders. We don’t publish it of people being convicted of rape or serious sexual assault,” he said.
This somewhat outlandish idea raises the prospect of vigilantes waiting by their computers for the quarterly sex offenders list to drop on the Government website, in much the same way that business journalists eagerly anticipate the tax defaulters list.
However, rather than write up a story, they are more likely to go around the local sex offender’s house and video themselves beating them up before posting it on social media. Given the mileage they have got out of “unvetted males of military age”, it is terrifying to think where this might end up.
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O’Callaghan would, on the face of it, appear to be looking for something along the lines of “Megan’s Law” in the US, which allows direct and uncontrolled access to information on sex offenders.
If he is anyway serious about his idea – from which he has not, as yet, walked back – the next step will no doubt be some sort of review group. The Minster could save himself some time and the taxpayer some money by reading the various reports produced by the UK home office that led to the introduction of what is called “Sarah’s Law”, which allows limited access to a register of sex offenders. It allows parents, carers or guardians to formally ask the police for information about a person who has contact with their child, or a child close to them, if they’re concerned the person may pose a risk.
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The UK study pointed out that a publicly accessible database – such as those kept in the US – can have unintended and negative consequences, including driving offenders underground, making it harder for the authorities to keep tabs on them. Likewise, many sex offenders register as homeless to evade monitoring.
The UK went instead for the limited access model, building on the previous system, under which the police kept a register of offenders and passed on relevant information about convicted sex offenders to people they feel should be aware of it in order to prevent harm. This also happens to be the current situation in Ireland, with the Garda having a similar role.
A similar incremental approach would probably fly here but the experience in the UK was that take-up by the public was less than anticipated, which is indicative of the gap that often exists between reality and the populist noise about this sort of issue. They also found no evidence of serious breaches of confidentially, and the police reported that it had led to sharpening up procedures in the area.
You can’t help thinking the Minister for Justice really should know this before getting on his feet to air it in the Dáil chamber. O’Callaghan is a successful and well-regarded barrister anda former legal adviser to the party.
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He should also know there is no such thing as a public database of tax offenders. The Revenue Commissioners publish a list of people who don’t co-operate with them when their tax affairs are being investigated and are found to have been in default. Taxpayers who co-operate with them and reach a settlement are not included, and the main purpose of the list is to incentivise people to co-operate with Revenue. It is not to protect the public from serial tax evaders.
You would also hope he would be aware that EU law puts strict limits on the keeping of databases of criminal convictions and who can access them. There is an emphasis on privacy and the rehabilitation of offenders, and according to the EU directive on child abuse, “access to those registers should be subject to limitation in accordance with national constitutional principles and applicable data protection standards, for instance by limiting access to the judiciary and/or law enforcement authorities”.
Given his legal background and obvious ability, it is hard to grant O’Callaghan a fool’s pardon in this regard. Another interpretation would be that he is consciously and clumsily leaning into a right-wing populist issue with the aim of garnering votes for himself and his party. That would be a dangerous game.
