Six people are now listed on the child offenders register, two of who were convicted of raping their own daughters, according to a Justice Ministry spokesman.

The idea is to make the names available to agencies dealing with children

Three of the six people listed were found guilty of the possession of child pornographic material and one was convicted of defiling a minor, the spokesman said.

Until October, only one name was listed on the register, which came into force on January 20.

Back then, former Justice Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici – who spearheaded the law – called on the judiciary to make use of the “very good instrument” available to protect children.

The idea of the register is to make the names of people convicted of abuse available to agencies dealing with children, even when the courts may have ordered a ban on publication of the name to protect the victims.

Convictions that could lead to inclusion on the list include defilement, rape, having sex with minors, child abduction, prostitution, pornography, trafficking in minors, harassment and neglect.

Once listed, a person would not be able to be a member of, work or hold any position within an organisation involved in the education, care, custody and welfare of minors.

The law is not retroactive, so a person listed on the register would have to be convicted after it came into force. The law leaves the listing entirely up to the discretion of the court.

The idea to have the paedophile register surfaced in mid-2006 in the wake of a controversy involving the Malta Football Association, which had kept a 79-year-old convicted paedophile as a groundsman at the Pace Grasso ground in Paola, which doubles as a playing field for a nearby school.