A jailed sex offender in Ireland has brought a High Court challenge against prison authorities to compel them to meet his kosher dietary needs.

At Dublin’s High Court on Wednesday, Ivan Peter Gan (48), aka Peter Ivan Dunne, sought to bring judicial review proceedings against the governor of Arbour Hill, the Prison Services, and the Minister for Justice, ordering them to provide him with kosher food, reports the Irish Independent.

Kosher food is food prepared in accordance with Jewish Dietary Laws.

A convicted sex offender, Gan, who converted to Judaism several years ago, complained to the court about the lack of access to legal representatives. Representing himself, he claimed he had been unable to find an attorney.

Mr Justice Paul McDermott adjourned the case until October. He asked Gan to arrange legal representation.

Originally from Coventry, England, Gan is serving a five-year term for having sex with a mentally impaired woman in Kilkenny in 2001. He had been working in city at the time of the offence. After fleeing to England, he was extradited to Ireland in 2009.

He opposed his extradition on human rights grounds, claiming that Irish prison authorities would not provide him with kosher food, or food free from onions. He claimed there was a "a real risk, or near certainty" that he would be killed "by the ingestion of red onions".

His case was dismissed by the English courts.