Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 604: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his Department keeps records of recidivism rates of persons convicted of sex offences; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30413/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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My Department does not keep records of recidivism rates of persons convicted of offences. Recidivism rates are typically established through one-off studies of samples of offenders based on individual records of imprisonment, conviction or offending. The Irish Prison Service keeps records of periods in custody for every prisoner which allow calculation of re-imprisonment rates by type of offence, including sex offences. However, these do not allow calculation of a comprehensive rate of re-offending that includes non-custodial sentences.

Recently, my Department funded an independent study by UCD of the sex offender programme run by the Irish Prison Service between 1994 and 2008. This examined re-offending rates of a sample of 248 sex offenders based on prison and Garda records. It found a re-offending rate of 8.1 percent for sexual offending over an average of 6.2 years.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 605: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of sex offenders who have been released for each of the past five years who have not been assessed before their release in order to identify the level of supervision and regulation needed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30414/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I can inform the Deputy that the Probation Service Protocols for the management of sex offenders on supervision in the community (2004) set out procedures for effective supervision of sex offenders following their release from custody. Assessment is an aspect of that practice. The procedures include a notification of release to the relevant Child Care Manager within the HSE. Contained in the following table is the breakdown of the number of sex offenders who, over the last 5 years, were subject to post release supervision by the Probation Service:

To date seventeen offenders have been released from custody onto supervision this year with a further eleven expected to be released onto supervision prior to the end of 2009.

The widescale use of a static risk assessment instrument, Risk Matrix 2000 (RM 2000) in assessments has commenced this year. However, since March 2008, the combination of RM 2000 and SA 2007 assessments (a dynamic risk assessment, Stable and Acute 2007) has been used with a limited number of offenders. These offenders were identified as posing particular concerns about risk and the majority were identified prior to release from custody onto probation supervision. To date approximately 60 such assessments have been completed.

Of the first 44 assessments completed by June 2009, 22 (50%) had been completed on offenders either prior to or immediately following release from custody onto supervision. The remaining 22 had been completed on offenders at the pre-sentence report stage or were already on supervision in the community. Once implemented nationally in 2010 the RM 2000 will guide the level of intervention and regulation required and the SA 2007 will guide the nature of that intervention.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 606: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he has established a dedicated interview room in a Garda station in each Health Service Executive region exclusively for victims of sexual crime; the locations of interview rooms allocated for this purpose; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30420/09]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 755: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the status of the report of a working group on the admissibility of video evidence in court; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31409/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to answer Questions Nos. 606 and 755 together.

I am informed by the Garda authorities that, given the need for sensitivity and confidentiality surrounding sexual crimes, there is a clear advantage from an investigative perspective both for An Garda Síochána and victims of such crimes in conducting interviews away from Garda stations. Dedicated victim interview suites have been established in a number of locations throughout the country and are used by An Garda Síochána to take video recordings of statements from victims of sexual crime. The suites are not attached to Garda Stations, and it would not be appropriate for reasons of confidentiality to give precise details of their locations.