Dublin's Granada Institute runs the only established, community-based treatment centre in the Republic for child sex abusers, although there have been pilot projects elsewhere. The director of the institute, which is a St John of God service, is psychologist Dr Pat Walsh who is also speaking at Saturday's conference.

"We see a variety of people," he says, "perpetrators, victims, families of victims and families and partners of perpetrators. Some perpetrators may be facing judicial process, others may write to us from prison and want to join a programme on their release; others may have been through the prison system.

"Our approach is based on the fact that these people can be treated, and while it usually takes a crisis to get someone into treatment, they can and do engage very successfully in the process."

The programme offers group and one-to-one therapy. It examines the factors in childhood and adolescence which triggered the abusive career. Many abusers have been abused themselves, says Walsh, if not sexually abused, then emotionally and/or physically mistreated. "When they look closely at their own issues and damage, they can begin to see how their behaviour has in turn harmed their victims," he says. A client is typically seen over a two-year period, after which there is a monitoring brief as part of a relapse prevention programme. According to Walsh, treatment reduces the chances of recidivism "substantially". The institute treats 120 people a year.