Forty-four people have been put on the sex offenders’ register since it started being compiled four years ago, but checking names is not proving to be easy for those whose job is to eliminate contact between paedophiles and children.

This has led teachers, educators and parents to call for easier access to it.

Among those on the list are men who were convicted of raping their own daughters, others who were found guilty of the possession of child pornographic material and others convicted of defiling minors.

Sources said there is one man listed twice after two separate convictions – one for defiling a boy and the other for engaging in sexual activities with two young boys.

The idea of introducing the register was suggested 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.

It was only in January 2012 that it became law, when the Protection of Minors’ Act came into force.

The law is not retroactive, so a person on the register would have to be convicted after it was introduced. Convictions that could lead to inclusion include rape, having sex with minors, child abduction, prostitution, pornography, trafficking in minors, harassment and neglect.

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