A heightened public focus on the threats of sexual violence and pornography to children, while understandable, has contributed to an erosion of children's freedom and a growing sense of insecurity for parents, according to the findings of a forthcoming book.
The authors of Child Pornography: Crime, Computers and Society, also warn that we are increasingly encouraged to view even routine dealings with children through a "paedophilic" lens.
But despite the threats posed by the arrival of the internet, research conducted by the authors on behalf of the Department of Justice - and reproduced in the book - reveals that the number of people investigated for child pornography offences in Ireland has fallen significantly since it peaked in 2002.
In May of that year a series of Garda dawn raids on homes and business premises exposed Irish involvement in the international child pornography trade.
In their book, Prof Ian O'Donnell and Claire Milner of UCD's Institute of Criminology also argue that while the desire to eradicate child pornography is understandable, it is unlikely to meet with great success.
In fact, they maintain that such an approach may mean we are being distracted from what makes children vulnerable to abuse - things such as poverty and neglect.
The book suggests there are wide variations in sentences handed out by judges here for crimes such as taking a child for sexual exploitation and allowing a child to be used for pornography.
"The judges I spoke to showed universal abhorrence for the crimes in question but an ability to separate the criminal from the crime," Prof O'Donnell told The Irish Times.
"The decision about what penalty to impose, up to the maximum set out in law, remains at the discretion of the judge. This is preferable to a system of mandatory sentences . . ."
He points out that child pornography was legally produced in a number of countries throughout the 1970s and circulated internationally, including in Ireland.
Although concerted law enforcement activity had given rise to the hope that this could be eradicated, the arrival of the internet opened up a new range of possibilities to those with an interest in paedophilia.
However, Prof O'Donnell argues that there is a paradoxical "blurring of boundaries" in media coverage of the issue.
"A sense of outrage and righteous indignation at the supposedly lenient treatment meted out to the latest 'sex fiend' coexists with prurient coverage of teenage sex symbols," he says.
A heightened focus on the threat of sexual abuse has contributed to a situation where routine dealings with children are now viewed through a "paedophilic" lens.
"Children are encouraged to consider any stranger as a potential threat and to view the world through a lens of suspicion and even hostility," Prof O'Donnell says. "An attitude of trust and openness is seen as evidence of vulnerability. This has a more general impact on how adults and children interact."
Prof O'Donnell notes the difficulties associated with having a "balanced discussion" about child pornography in terms of the range of harms that this material entails. "People can think very easily about the idea of ex-offenders [in other areas of crime], but they find it much more difficult to think about ex-sex offenders," he says.