337 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of members or former members of religious orders or priests who have in each of the past five years and to date in 1997 been found guilty or who have pleaded guilty to offences involving the sexual abuse of children; the number of these offences with which these alleged offenders were charged; and the number of these offenders currently serving prison sentences. [20264/97]
I am informed by the Garda authorities that crime statistics and criminal records are not maintained in a way that readily identifies the kind of information sought by the Deputy. The information could be obtained only by a disproportionate expenditure of staff time and resources.
With regard to the information sought regarding offenders currently serving prison sentences, my Department does not categorise prisoners by occupation, whether past or present. In addition, it is not always clear from custody committal warrants whether the victims in these cases were adults or children.
338 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of children allegedly sexually abused by members of religious orders or priests in respect of which criminal charges have been brought in the period 1992 to date in 1997; the investigations, if any, which has been conducted to determine whether any of those found guilty of these offences have co-operated with each other in the abuse of children; and whether there is a reason to believe that a paedophile ring exists or existed in this State. [20265/97]
I refer the Deputy to my answer to Parliamentary Question No. 337 of today's date with regard to the statistics sought by him.
I am informed by the Garda authorities that with the exception of one investigation relating to a seizure of videos featuring pornographic material, there is no evidence available to the Garda which indicates that a paedophile ring exists or has existed in the State. In the course of an investigation into the alleged sexual abuse of a child, I am assured by the Garda Síochána that any indication that a suspect may have been acting in concert with another person or persons would be fully investigated.
