Sir, - I am appalled that some 35 sex offenders are to be released from prison over the next six months, and that the offenders are not going to be monitored after their release. Some of them are paedophiles who have refused treatment in prison.
This situation is a disaster waiting to happen. In recent years, the scandal of thousands of children being subjected to criminal acts of abuse over decades, by members of the religious, by swimming coaches, and by their own relatives, has come to light. In some of these cases, those in authority knew of the abuse that was going on, and did nothing to help the children who were being hurt so deplorably. We cannot change the past, but we can learn from it.
The Government has a moral responsibility to ensure that it does everything it possibly can to protect our children from being hurt by criminals who wish to prey on them.
The country is booming and there seems to be plenty of Lottery money available for sports and the like. The Government must choose its priorities carefully. It must direct funds towards a programme of monitoring sex offenders after they are released from prison. The alternative is the possibility of another scandal in the future similar to that of Brendan Smyth. That is too terrible a future to contemplate, and it can be avoided, if the Government takes action now to protect our children. - Yours, etc., J. Desmond,
Shankill,
Co Dublin.