County councils want sex offenders to stay in Dublin

Rural local authorities want sex offenders from their areas to be housed in Dublin after prison release, the Irish Prison Service has said.

Director of care and rehabilitation with the prison service Fergal Black has told Dublin City Council he has great difficulty in persuading managers of county councils to house ex-prisoners, particularly sex offenders, who come from their counties.

Sex offenders from all over the country ended up in prison and the prison service believed all local authorities, not just Dublin councils, had a responsibility to deal with them if they were in need of housing, Mr Black said.

The prison service had a very good working relationship with the city council, he said, but the problem should not be shouldered by the city alone and was for “every local authority” to deal with.

“When I come across an offender who clearly, from their address, comes from a particular local authority area, I will say to that county manager you have a responsibility to deal with this. It’s not just an issue for Dublin City Council.”

Sex offenders were likely to need local authority housing because, particularly in the case where the offence had been “interfamilial” they could not return to the family home after release, he said.