The Explainer
23 Aug 2019
How does Ireland deal with sex offenders after prison?
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Tom Humphries was known as one of Ireland’s finest sports writers when he was accused of grooming and the defilement of a child. He was released last week after spending 22 months in Midlands Prison.Cases like the Tom Humphries case can be an opportunity to focus the national conversation on the more difficult aspects of the justice system.It’s an incredibly complex policy area that is fraught with emotion – not just on the part of victims and their families. Humphries’ release also comes against a background of a number of vigilante attacks on other convicted sex offenders in Dublin.So how does a country deal with all of the facts and emotions around such a topic? To explain to us what currently is done in Ireland with sex offenders after their release from prison, host Sinéad O’Carroll is joined in studio by TheJournal.ie reporter Michelle Hennessy, Eileen Finnegan, clinical director of One In Four, creator of the Phoenix programme for offender treatment/intervention and Fíona Ní Chinnéide, executive director of the Irish Penal Reform Trust.