A new facility in Sligo to accommodate ex-offenders has run into opposition from residents who fear that men convicted of serious crimes, including sex offences, will be housed in it.
The Sligo town-based Community Alliance residents' group says that if the facility opens, 340 "potentially violent men" will be housed in their community over the next five years. Members of the group have accused the Department of Justice and the probation services of secrecy over the centre.
The Community Alliance's spokesman, Mr Jim O'Sullivan, said the proposal to open the facility was "hidden" in a report on an action plan on homelessness in Sligo.
Having met those involved in the centre, Mr O'Sullivan said he and other residents in Sligo town had a number of concerns.
He said that because ex-offenders would get priority for housing in Sligo after their stay at the centre at Lyons Place, Sligo town, 340 of them would be housed in the area over the next five years. The new centre comprises 17 one-bedroom units. Each person would stay there for three to six months.
The alliance is worried that serious offenders will be accommodated at the centre.
Residents are concerned at the centre's proximity to a nearby school and believe many residents will reoffend in the community.
"When we asked what assurances do parents have that these people will not be in the vicinity of our children in our schools, we were told that the ex-offenders would only be asked not to go near schools, but they were free to go wherever they liked," said Mr O'Sullivan.
The new centre is being funded by the Department of Justice. It will be run jointly by the Department and the probation services. A spokeswoman for the probation services in Sligo disputed the residents' view that the facility will be exclusively for ex-offenders.
"It is a project which will cater for the needs of homeless people rather than ex-offenders. Obviously some of the clients might have offended in the past." She declined to comment further.
Documents released by the probation service to the residents' group say that all clients at the centre will be "early-release prisoners and probationers, all referred to as ex-offenders".
The documents confirm that "all categories of ex-offenders, e.g., paedophiles, murderers, rapists, other sex offenders, violent behaviour, drugs offenders, burglars and all other categories" will be catered for. It adds that gardaí are not represented on the management committee.
"Ex-offenders will be free to approach children although they will be asked not to," it states.
No professional staff will run the centre and there will be no supervision. In one of the documents, the Community Alliance asks, "What assurances do residents have that their families and property will not be interfered with?" The response from the facility's management committee reads, "categorically, none".
