Fine Gael has called for the names of sex offenders who refuse treatment in prison to be published whenever they take up residence in a community.
The party's justice spokesman, Mr John Deasy, said there was a high risk that those convicted would re-offend because only 10-12 per cent of them took part in prison treatment programmes.
"If sex offenders are not prepared to participate in these courses then the public have every right to know where these people are located once they leave prison," he said.
"I have real concern here. I think security is in peril. I believe it is a danger. Some experts say there is a high recidivism rate for sex offenders because there is a disease here."
Some 299 offenders are in prison for sex-related offences but only eight of them are taking part in a treatment programme in Arbour Hill prison, Dublin.
A spokeswoman for the Prison Service said: "Due to an insufficient number of suitable or adequately motivated applicants, only one structured programme is being run for sex offenders this year."
However, she declined to comment on whether more places would be made available if more prisoners sought to take part.
Mr Deasy said the names of offenders on the Garda Register of Sex Offenders was not available to communities.
He said names and other details should be published in local newspapers or distributed in leaflets by the Garda. This was the practice in some parts of the US. "It might prove some incentive for those offenders to undergo treatment," he said.
A Garda spokesman said there were 289 names on the register as of November last year.
