Sex Offenders Act, 2001

Application of this Part to persons convicted outside State.

13.—(1) If—

(a) a person has been convicted, in a place other than the State of an offence,

(b) the act constituting the offence concerned would, if done in the State, constitute a sexual offence (within the meaning of this Act) under the law of the State, and either—

(i) the person would, accordingly, be subject to the requirements of this Part by reason of subsection (1) or (2) of section 7 , or

(ii) at the commencement of this Part, the person, as a person who has been convicted of the first-mentioned offence in paragraph (a), is required, under the law of the first-mentioned place in that paragraph (however that requirement is described in that law), to notify to the police in that place information of a similar nature to that required to be notified by a person otherwise subject to the requirements of this Part,

and

(c) the person is, at the time of the conviction, or thereafter becomes, resident in the State,

that person shall be deemed to be subject to the requirements of this Part and this Part shall, subject to subsection (2), apply accordingly.

(2) For the purposes of such application, section 10 shall have effect as if for subsection (1) there was substituted the following subsection:

“(1) A person who is subject to the requirements of this Part shall, before the end of the period of 7 days beginning with—

(a) in case the person is already resident in the State upon his or her so first returning and paragraph (c) does not apply, the date on which the person first returns to the State after being convicted of the offence concerned,

(b) in case the person is not so resident and paragraph (c) does not apply, the date on which the person first becomes resident in the State after being convicted of the offence concerned, or

(c) in case the date on which the person so first returns to, or becomes resident in, the State is prior to the commencement of this Part, the commencement of this Part,

notify to the Garda Síochána—

(i) his or her name and, where he or she also uses one or more other names, each of those names, and

(ii) his or her home address.”.

(3) For the purposes of this section, a person shall be deemed to be resident in the State if he or she is ordinarily resident, or has his or her principal residence, in the State, or is in the State for a qualifying period.

(4) Where a person to whom this section applies is charged with an offence under section 12 , he or she shall, whether or not he or she would be treated for the purposes of section 12 as having a reasonable excuse apart from this subsection, be treated for those purposes as having a reasonable excuse if he or she believed that the act constituting the offence referred to in subsection (1) would not, if done in the State, constitute any sexual offence (within the meaning of this Act) under the law of the State.

(5) For the purposes of subsection (4), it is immaterial whether a belief is justified or not if it is honestly held.

(6) In this section—

“police” means, in relation to the first-mentioned place in subsection (1), any police force in that place, or a member thereof, whether that force is organised at a national, regional or local level;

“qualifying period” has the same meaning as it has in section 10 .