It is questionable whether prison-based group therapy programmes for sex offenders worked at all, a leading defence lawyer told the Central Criminal Court yesterday.
Mr Patrick MacEntee SC said a prisoner could be put at risk as a result of matters revealed during group sessions becoming the subject of gossip among the small prison population.
Mr MacEntee was speaking during a hearing to review the sentence of a 52-year-old Kildare man who is serving 6 1/2 years for sexually abusing two daughters and two nieces in the 1970 and 1980s.
The sentence was imposed by Mr Justice Geoghegan in 1995 after the defendant admitted 10 sample charges.
Mr MacEntee said his client maintained that a probation officer told him she would be recommending he be released. He was later told no such recommendation would be made.
If he was released he was willing to stay away from his family and live and work in Dublin. This would enable him to attend group therapy sessions at the Granada Institute in Stillorgan which is run by St John of God.
The defendant's probation officer said she never told the man she was going to recommend he should be released.
She said she recommended in her report that he might be suitable for the group therapy programme in Arbour Hill. He had never applied for it.
When she said offenders on the programme signed a confidentiality agreement, Mr MacEntee asked how such a "gossip deterrent" would be policed. The probation officer said she was not responsible for such matters.
Mr MacEntee said it had to be questioned whether group therapy for sex offenders worked within the confines of the small population of a prison environment. Such therapy worked in the wider community.
The defendant told the court that he had attempted to organise sessions with a private therapist in Arbour Hill Prison which would be paid for by his brother.
The Department of Justice did not agree to this but provided a priest for individual therapy.
The defendant said he saw the priest from August to December 1996 but was moved to the Curragh Prison in January of this year.
Mr Paul O'Higgins SC, prosecuting, asked him why he did not apply for the group programme. The defendant replied: "I don't think I could sit down and discuss my problems in that type of situation. I know there is lots of talk outside".
Mr Justice Geoghegan adjourned the case to December 4th.