The Irish Prison Service (IPS) has confirmed that there have been 55 sex offenders jailed for the first five months of this year.
The figure does not include married man, David Quinn (42) who was only jailed for three years last week at Ennis Circuit Court after admitting to Gardai that he had sought out pornographic material of babies online.
Mr Quinn of Sli an Fheargas, Clarecastle, Co Clare was jailed for knowingly possessing child pornography for the purpose of distribution, publication and exportation on September 4th 2013.
Mr Quinn also pleaded guilty to having in his possession 7,606 child porn images and 139 video files on the same date contrary to Section 6 (1) of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998.
During the Garda investigation, Mr Quinn admitted to Gardai that he was a Nepiophile or ‘Nepi’- a person who is sexually attracted to babies and toddlers aged under three.
In a Garda interview in August 2017, Mr Quinn admitted that he had sought out pornographic content of girls and boys aged between zero and five.
Asked did he seek out pornographic material of babies, Mr Quinn said: “That is fair to say.”
Mr Quinn also admitted to creating child porn by taking photos of two young girls he had come into contact with in Co Clare and sharing images of one of the children with other paedophiles online in a file sharing system.
Mr Quinn’s online user name was kinderlove82. Mr Quinn told Gardai that his wife had no knowledge of his Nepiophilia and his online activity.
Judge Gerald Keys lifted the bar in court last week on Mr Quinn being named and also placed him on the sex offenders register.
The 55 jailed for sex offences for the first five months of this year compares to a total of 170 jailed for sex offences for the 12 months of last year.
The IPS confirmed that at the end of May this year, there were 417 sex offenders in jail made up of 309 at the Midlands prison and 108 at Arbour Hill prison.
A spokesman for the IPS stated: “Sex offenders are housed separately in prison and do not mix with the general population for safety reasons.”
The spokesman stated that the number of sex offenders released from January 1st to June 24th this year totalled 109 and a further 101 sex offenders are due to release from June 24th to the end of the year.
In court last week, Judge Keys told Mr Quinn to undergo a treatment programme in prison.
The IPS confirmed that the number of prisoners who participated in the sex offender treatment programme, ‘Building Better Lives Programme’ in 2018 was 31.
The IPS spokesman said: “There are a number of reasons why sex offenders do not engage in the ‘Building Better Lives Programme’, including denial, lack of motivation, insufficient time in sentence, not suitable due to appealing conviction and complexity.
He pointed out: “Approximately 75 per cent of the sex offender population are not suitable to engage in the Programme for these reasons.”
He said: “Traditionally, ‘categorical deniers’, that is those who say categorically: ‘I did not do this’, have been excluded from treatment. Nationally and internationally it was believed that such individuals were ‘untreatable’ in terms of their sexual offending. However, more recent international research has demonstrated that treatment approaches can be effective even for those who continue to deny that they committed sexual violence.”
“Based on this research, and regular contact with international experts on the matter, it is anticipated that the BBL Programme in the IPS will be expanded to include offenders who categorically deny all of their offences, albeit in a separate group to those who admit or partially admit.”
