Convictions for sex offences in Laois/Offaly have risen by 250% in 10-years

OUTSIDE of Dublin, the Laois/Offaly Garda Division has the seen highest rise in the country of recorded convictions for sex offences from 2003 to 2024.

In that 20-year period figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show a 250% rise of sex offences in the Laois/Offaly Garda Division.

Figures released to Ireland South MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú under the Freedom of Information Act by the Irish Prison Service show that as of 31 May this year, there were 800 sexual offenders in Irish prisons costing the state almost €80 million annually to house. That is 16% higher than on 31 May 2024 when 692 sexual offenders were in the prison system.

The figures also show that 235 sex offenders were released from Irish Prisons in 2024, an increase of 34% on 2023 when just 175 sex offenders were released from prisons. Up to 31 May this year, 103 sex offenders were released from Irish prisons.

Cynthia Ní Mhurchú also pointed to CSO figures which show an upward trend in the offence of ‘rape and sexual assault’ across most Garda divisions in Ireland over the past 20 years.

Ní Mhurchú has raised concerns about the Irish prison system’s ability to rehabilitate sexual offenders and questioned the value for money of spending €80 million euros of taxpayers money every year to house sex offenders that we are not treating.

The ‘Building Better Lives’ programme was an Irish Prison service treatment programme for sex offenders.

Figures provided to Cynthia Ní Mhurchú in August 2024 showed that just eight sex offenders were participating in the ‘Building Better Lives’ programme. 

Updated figures from the Irish Prison Service show that only six sexual offenders completed the ‘Building Better Lives programme in 2024 before it was eventually cancelled in October 2024.

The Irish Prison Service has since developed a new model of intervention for people who are convicted of a sexual offence called ‘New Chapters’.

Ní Mhurchú has described the figures as a wakeup call to action and says it is clear we are dealing with an epidemic of violence against women.

Ireland South MEP, Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, herself a former family law barrister, has called for a suite of measures to tackle dramatic rises in violence against women which should include a review of sentencing for violent crimes against women. 

*Advanced training for circuit and district court judges to the sensitivities involved in such cases. 

*More consultation rooms for victims in our courts and a more victim centred approach. 

*A thorough investigation into why we have seen tenfold increases in the number of rapes and sexual assaults across every county in Ireland. 

*More focused measures to rehabilitate sexual offenders in prison.

Ní Mhurchú said she will be requesting a meeting with Justice Minister, Jim O’Callaghan, to discuss the immediacy of what she has termed a crisis.