One of the State's largest rape counselling services has joined calls for an overhaul of the prison remission system, ahead of the release of a notorious sex offender.

The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre said it was "aware of the anxiety and fear that is being triggered in the community by the impending release of convicted rapist Larry Murphy".

Murphy (45) from Baltinglass, Co Wicklow, is expected to be released from jail on Thursday after serving 10½ years of a 15-year sentence for the brutal rape of a woman in the Wicklow mountains in February 2000.

Fine Gael called at the weekend for a radical overhaul of the prison remission system, which entitles most prisoners to one-quarter remission off their sentences. Prison sources have indicated Murphy has not engaged in misconduct. They have also confirmed he refused treatment offered to all sex offenders.

Today, the centre said it welcomed the ongoing work the Department of Justice was doing in its development of "best practice in the management of sex offenders".

"However the system of automatic remission of 25 per cent of sentences urgently needs reform in general, but more specifically in cases of serious crimes," it said.

"In cases of sex offences, we would call on the Government to legislate for remission to be linked with co-operation and participation in rehabilitation programmes and that high risk repeat sex offenders are not released until it is possible to assess that there is a reduction in the possibility of their reoffending.”

The centre said it was "acutely sympathetic to the possibility of the re-traumatisation of victims of rape and sexual abuse at this time" by the extensive media coverage that the Murphy case had generated.

It urged anyone needing support, whether as a victim, a friend or a family member, to call its national 24-hour helpline 1 800778888.