Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 193: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of sex offenders released from prison having served a sentence during each of the past five years; the number who have re-offended; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14736/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The table sets out the information sought by the Deputy:

It is not possible to establish how many of those persons have been re-committed to custody without going into each individual record and I am informed that the gathering of the information requested would require a disproportionate and inordinate amount of staff time and effort and could not be justified in current circumstances where there are other significant demands on resources.

The Irish Prison Service is introducing a number of new initiatives aimed at increasing the range and availability of therapeutic interventions for sex offenders in prison with the aim of increasing participation rates and enhancing the effectiveness of interventions. I will be making a detailed announcement on this matter in the near future.

I should also tell the Deputy that the whole are of the management of sex offenders was the subject of a comprehensive review by my Department last year. I published the resultant Discussion Document back in January and hosted a Discussion Forum last month to foster informed debate on this issue. In tandem with this work my officials are also looking at the whole issue of electronic monitoring and specifically at the introduction of a statutory scheme of GPS electronic monitoring of sex offenders during the first six months after their release. I expect to receive the recommendations of the Project Board, led by the Probation Service, later this year.