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	Vigilante attacks on a convicted sex offender could drive him underground an expert has warned.</p>
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	The caution comes following the second violent attack on convicted child rapist Danny Ward in Dublin.</p>
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	Maeve Lewis, the executive director of One in Four - which works with adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse - has cautioned that violent vigilantism could potentially make him more dangerous.</p>
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	&quot;I suspect what will happen is that man is going to go underground and that is when he will be most dangerous,&quot; she warned.</p>
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	Last week the Herald published images showing Ward being punched and kicked in what appeared to be the foyer of a garda station.</p>
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	It is the second attack on him this year - in June he was driven out of Ringsend by a vigilante mob.</p>
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	&quot;I can really understand how terrified people are that their children might be abused and that a sex offender might be living in their area and they don&#39;t know about it,&quot; Ms Lewis told the Herald.</p>
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	&quot;On the other hand, only about one-in-20 child abusers are ever convicted for their crimes, meaning that there are many, many sex offenders living in our communities that we&#39;re not aware of.&quot;</p>
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	&quot;If somebody is convicted and their name is made public and it results in the kind of vigilantism we saw last week, the end result is probably to drive people underground,&quot; she added.</p>
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	&quot;When sex offenders are isolated in that way or hidden and frightened, that&#39;s when they become really dangerous and when children are most at risk.&quot;</p>
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	Treatment for sex offenders is limited in Ireland Ms Lewis pointed out, and added that research around the world shows the re-offending rate is much lower where treatment is provided.</p>
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	&quot;Offenders are at their most dangerous when they are socially isolated, unemployed and on the run, as that man is likely to be,&quot; Ms Lewis continued.</p>
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	Integrate</p>
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	If sex offenders are given the opportunity to integrate into a community and find employment and social supports, children are likely to be safer, she explained.</p>
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	One in Four runs a treatment program for sex offenders, but it is only one of two places in the country to do so.</p>
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	A national treatment program is needed Ms Lewis said.</p>
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	<a href="http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/vigilante-attacks-will-send-child-rapist-underground-where-he-will-be-most-dangerous-31397863.html">http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/vigilante-attacks-will-send-child-rapist-underground-where-he-will-be-most-dangerous-31397863.html</a></p>
