The prison service is seeking funding to establish a new programme inspired by the Canadian “Rockwood programme” which allows offenders to take part even if they refuse to admit their crime, The Irish Times reports.

The initiative has been launched out of concern about the low participation of sex offenders in the voluntary Building Better Lives (BBL) treatment programme, which was introduced in 2009.

The vast majority of sex offenders leave Irish prisons without taking part in any preventative treatment.

The new so-called “deniers’ group” is being developed by the IPS alongside the Probation Service and will be rolled out within the next three years if it secured funding.

A spokesperson for the IPS told The Irish Times: “Individuals cannot be ‘forced’ to admit to their offence, nor should they be denied treatment.

“Similar to the approach in Canada, the focus of this group will be to identify the problematic dynamic factors relevant to offending and engage in treatment of these factors.”