Sex offenders need to be supported, says prison chaplain

SEX offenders released from prison should be supported rather than demonised, the chaplain of Arbour Hill prison said yesterday.

Speaking a week after convicted sex offender Fr Ivan Payne was forced by angry residents to leave his accommodation in the Dublin docklands area, Fr Fergal McDonagh said naming and shaming sex offenders only made the situation worse.

“When we publicly name them, it gives the impression we’re doing something to protect our children. But it doesn’t protect them at all. The sex offender just moves somewhere else.”

Fr McDonagh has worked with convicted sex offenders for nine years in his role as chaplain at Arbour Hill prison. It houses over 400 sex offenders, many of whom are receiving treatment.

But Fr McDonagh criticised the lack of support services for released sex offenders.

“We spend €63,000 a year keeping them in a 10ft by 6ft cell. But when they come out, there’s no housing for them. I’m not saying we should mollycoddle them or clap them on the back. But someone is a lot less likely to re-offend if they don’t have to ask: ‘Where can I sleep tonight?’”

He said contrary to popular opinion, not all sex offenders are bent on re-offending. “In my nine years as chaplain at Arbour Hill, over 180 sexual offenders have been released. As far as I know, only three have re-offended.

The gardaí keep a register of sex offenders, but Fr McDonagh is strongly opposed to making the register more publicly available. “The community has already punished the sex offenders for their crime. A public list is like sticking stars on them, like the Nazis did to the Jews in Germany.”

A spokesperson for the ISPCC said that sex offenders needed to be monitored, but agreed a public register was not the way to go about it.

“A public register only forces sex offenders to move from place to place. If a person is trying to get on with their life, they have to live in a community,” said chief executive Paul Gilligan.

The ISPCC is satisfied with the current register maintained by the gardaí but warned that vigilance was needed.

“If a sex offender is released from prison and starts hanging around a playground or working with a youth team, then the gardaí need to notify people in the community,” he said.