Compiled by Conor Lally
Michael O'Donnell (43)
Falmore, Dungloe, Co Donegal
O'Donnell pleaded guilty in May 2005 to 19 sample counts of sexual assault and unlawful carnal knowledge of his first cousins from 1978 to 1987. He was sentenced to five years and is currently in Castlerea Prison, Co Roscommon. O'Donnell was 14 when he began abusing the elder of the girls, Fionnuala Bonner, then aged four. Her sister, Bridgeen Bonner, was 4½ when he began abusing her. The abuse stopped when he was 23. Judge Matthew Deery said the offences were "very severe", where "full and penetrative sexual intercourse took place on a repetitive basis over the years". He is due for release in January 2009.
John Adams (64)
Dunvale, Ballymena, Co Antrim
Adams pleaded guilty in the Central Criminal Court to four counts of unlawful carnal knowledge and two counts of sexual abuse between 1991 and 1993 in a Co Louth town. He was sentenced on July 28th, 2003. Adams, who is currently in Arbour Hill Prison in Dublin, forced three of his victims to take Polaroid photographs of themselves in sex acts. Mr Justice Carney said some of the pictures were similar to "the worst that would be found in any hardcore magazine".
John Quilligan (26)
The Caravan,
Monaghan Road, Cork
Quilligan was sentenced to four years last December for the unlawful carnal knowledge of a then 14-year-old girl in October 2002.
Judge Frank O'Donnell at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court told him that had he been found guilty by a jury his sentence would have been much longer.
The Irish Times understands he is currently in jail in the Midlands Prison, Portlaoise, and that he is to challenge his detention shortly.
He is due for release in December 2008.
Edward Delaney
O'Malley Park, Limerick
Delaney was convicted two years ago on 16 counts of indecent assault and 16 counts of unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl in the 1970s. He was sentenced to five years in October 2004. Currently in Arbour Hill Prison, Dublin, he is due for release in July 2008. Sentencing Delaney, Judge Anthony P Kennedy said: "It took skilled planning and brazen execution to carry out these degrading offences. You caused the victim shame, guilt and self-blame." The victim had lost her childhood as a result.
Edward Ryan (64)
Boderan, Campile, Co Wexford
In 2002 Ryan admitted six sample counts of indecent assault and two of unlawful carnal knowledge of his niece, Nuala Murphy, when she was aged between nine and 14 in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The farmer was jailed for eight years for the offences but had the final two years of the sentence suspended. He is due for release in December. He threatened Ms Murphy that if she told anyone, he would commit suicide by blowing his head off and he would leave a note telling people it was her fault.
Simon Murphy (53)
The Hollow, Ramsgrange,
New Ross, Co Wexford
A father of four, Murphy pleaded guilty in 2002 to 42 counts of sexual abuse and unlawful carnal knowledge over 25 years. One of his four victims was his sister, Nuala Murphy, the same person abused by Edward Ryan. Murphy was jailed for eight years and had the final two years suspended. Like his uncle, Edward Ryan, he is due for release in December.
Why they might be released
These men are eligible to seek their release from prison either because they were imprisoned solely for offences covered by the statutory rape law which has been struck down by the Supreme
Court, or because they have completed sentences imposed for other offences and are now detained only on the basis of the statutory rape law declared to be unconstitutional.