Sex offenders are not being treated in sufficient numbers in prisons, despite their high rate of recidivism, Mr John Deasy (Fine Gael Waterford) told the Dáil.

It was "extremely worrying", he said that a recent Dublin Rape Crisis Centre study carried out by the Royal College of Surgeons, had found that over 40 per cent of women and 28 per cent of men in the Republic faced the threat of sexual abuse in their lifetime.

He added: "We have a higher rate of sexual abuse than any other country in Europe or state in the US. People with this problem who have offended are not being treated in prisons." The scale of the problem could only get worse if this position did not change.

The Minister for Justice and Law Reform, Mr McDowell, agreed: "It is essential we move quickly to the position that all sex offenders are offered adequate counselling and therapy, as is appropriate." The figures, he said, indicated not every offender was getting "formalised sex offender therapy programme treatment" at this stage.

Sixteen prisoners were recruited to the sex offender programme annually, eight in Arbour Hill and eight in the Curragh, the Minister told the House. Some 84 offenders had completed the programme to date. On average, 48 offenders were recruited annually to the "thinking skills" course - Arbour Hill, Cork and the Curragh - and 194 prisoners had completed the course to date.

"The number of offenders undergoing one-to-one counselling is difficult to define, said Mr McDowell, because of the varied nature of individual counselling. In response to such counselling many offenders, who initially denied responsibility, were "motivated towards some process of change".

There were 45 applicants for the two sex offender programmes this year. Sixteen had been offered places: "The remaining 29 constitute a waiting list for the two programmes. Of these, the vast majority have sufficient time left in their sentence to complete the programme at a future date." The figures indicated room for significant improvement, the Minister conceded. He was acutely aware of the deficiencies in the system from his days as a barrister.