Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. This matter concerns the need for the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to clarify his policy on convicted paedophiles while serving prison sentences and after release in the community. It is a serious matter which has been brought to my attention by a number of people and which I want addressed. I am not satisfied the necessary structures are in place to deal with the problem that exists, particularly in light of the Ferns Report.

Approximately 10% of the prison population at any given time are sex offenders. However, the Government has taken no action to ensure that these offenders have access to treatment and counselling when convicted and serving a custodial sentence in prison. As a result, they leave prison in exactly the same condition that they entered it. This situation is serious, particularly in the case of paedophiles, as they return to the community with the same predatory instincts and intentions as when they entered prison.

The annual report of the prison chaplains last week demonstrated the stark reality of the lack of counselling for sex offenders in our prisons. The Government response when sex offenders are released from prison is equally irresponsible. Sex offenders are obliged to register with the Garda Síochána and are put on a register of offenders, but that is the end of the matter. The register is a confidential document and only the most senior members in a Garda station are aware of the identity of a paedophile in a Garda district.

The abused family or families are not necessarily informed that the offender has returned to the local community. In effect, nothing has changed and the sexual predator is free to move in the same circles, with the same opportunities to abuse. When the abused person and his or her family become aware of the situation, they are immediately plunged into a state of fear and frustration. Other children who may have been abused by the same paedophile but who may not have come forward to give evidence at a court case also live in fear, while their parents may be totally unaware of the situation affecting their children. Other children might be exposed to abuse for the first time.

Released paedophiles who are loose in the community are walking bombshells and will re-offend, as the Ferns Report showed, because they do not see their behaviour as wrong. It is essential for convicted paedophiles to attend comprehensive programmes of treatment and counselling while in prison.

Equally, it is essential that the register of sex offenders should mean something. There must be provision for supervision of all paedophiles after release and their attendance at treatment and counselling programmes and support groups; for the vulnerable victims and targets of previous abuse and for their parents to be informed of the paedophiles release and whereabouts; and lines of communication must be open at all times between the relevant members of the Garda Síochána and the victims and their parents.

The findings of the Ferns Inquiry highlighted the need for the State to introduce urgent measures to protect vulnerable children from clerical sexual abuse. It is high time urgent measures were introduced to protect vulnerable children from all forms of sexual abuse.

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