Vol. 512 No. 6
356 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of prisoners serving sentences for sex crimes; the number of prisoners receiving therapy to help prevent re-offence; the plans, if any, under way to expand therapy services, including to those serving sentences for paedophilia; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26941/99]
There were 349 convicted sex offenders in Irish prisons on Tuesday, 8 December 1999. There are currently ten offenders undergoing the dedicated group sex offender treatment programme in Arbour Hill Prison. In addition, the probation and welfare service and the psychology service in my Department provide one to one counselling to offenders. The number of offenders undergoing one to one counselling is difficult to define because of the varied nature of individual counselling provided to sex offenders in prison. Such counselling can vary from one session addressing a particular problem to intensive ongoing counselling. The treatment outlined above is available to all sex offenders including paedophiles.
I had hoped that it would be possible to have a dedicated sex offender group treatment programme in place in the Curragh Place of Detention this year. However, the absence of generic psychological services there will delay the establishment of a full programme until next year.
The Probation and Welfare Service and the psychology service of my Department are recruiting extra staff at present. It is intended that the Curragh Place of Detention will have priority in the allocation of resources to enable the introduction of a dedicated sex offender group treatment programme in the prison, similar to the programme which has been operating successfully in Arbour Hill for a number of years.
I have instructed the director general of the Irish Prisons Service to ensure that the treatment of all sex offenders throughout the prison system is given priority attention. In the meantime, all convicted sex offenders, are invited to avail of the specialised sex offender group treatment programme in Arbour Hill Prison regardless of the institution in which they are detained.
