Minister for justice Dermot Ahern does not intend to introduce controversial 'Megan's Law' legislation but is considering informing "certain parties" of the whereabouts of convicted sex offenders that pose an immediate danger.

'Megan's Law' was introduced in the 1990s in the US and led to a register of the names and addresses of persons convicted of certain sexual crimes, mainly involving children, being made publicly available on the internet in some states.

It followed a campaign for such a measure following the murder and rape of a young girl, Megan Kanka, in 1994 by a convicted sex offender living in her neighbourhood in New Jersey.

The availability on the internet of the names of convicted sex offenders in the US has led to attacks on the wrong men by vigilantes and resulted in murders.

The justice minister has received a "sizeable re­s­ponse" from the general public on the question of publicly identifying sex offenders and the management of sex offenders generally since inviting submissions at the end of January.

In two months' time, Ahern will bring forward new proposals on how he plans to deal with sex offenders and has established a working group within his department that has extensively examined the issue.

At present, a sex offenders' register is in existence but it has been heavily criticised as secretive and ineffective. It came into existence under the Sex Offenders Act 2001 and does not apply to sex crimes committed retrospectively.

Individuals do not have to sign on with local gardaí in their jurisdiction but are 'monitored' by gardaí in each division.

No information on what type of monitoring is carried out by gardaí is available. Persons are placed on the register upon co­n­viction for sexual offences. If someone on the register is moving house, "the onus is on them to inform their local garda station that is currently monitoring them and then inform the local garda station in the new area they move to".

New proposals the minister is considering could radically change how sex offenders are monitored. The working group has recommended to the minister "that if the Garda Síochána have reason to believe that a particular high-risk convicted sex offender poses a real and immediate danger, they should be free to tell individuals who need to know. Indeed in certain circumstances this may involve notifying the public through the media".

The group also informed Ahern: "If a sex offender has failed to notify the Garda Síochána of his or her address, they should be free to seek public assistance in locating that offender. However we do not believe that giving the general public unrestricted access to the names and addresses of convicted sex offenders, either high risk or low risk, would serve any useful purpose.

"Indeed it is likely to have the reverse effect, encouraging witch hunts, driving sex offenders underground and making it more difficult for the Garda Síochána and the Probation Service to monitor and supervise such offenders."