Children’s advocacy groups have called for action by the Garda and for the strengthening of international protocols to tackle child pornography online.
The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) and Children at Risk in Ireland (Cari) were responding to RTÉ's Primetime Investigates programme about the issue last night.
The investigation found more than 1,000 individual computers in Ireland had, in one month alone, accessed images of children being abused.
The ISPCC said legislation for monitoring and addressing child abuse online needed to be enhanced to keep in line with the ongoing development of technology.
“Sentencing, post release supervision and other sanctions need to reflect the depravity of the crime carried out. We need to ensure that children are protected from those who habitually prey on them,” said Margie Roe, Childline online manager with the ISPCC.
She said it was essential that internet service providers and the Garda continued to develop safety mechanisms as part of their responsibility to protect children.
“It is clear that urgent safeguards need to be introduced and that key stakeholders in the internet industry and law enforcement continue to work to develop a comprehensive, strategic approach that will keep children and young people safe. This includes blocking and addressing the issue of peer-to-peer file-sharing.”
Ms Roe said it must also be remembered that child pornography online was “a borderless crime that extends beyond each jurisdiction”.
“Frequently, the image may not be created in the country it is downloaded to. To address this we need clearer international protocols to address and investigate cases of child pornography.
“In particular, international protocols needs to be strengthened so that information regarding child protection concerns sent from international bodies, such as Interpol, are sent as a priority, and are dealt with and prioritised appropriately when they are received.”
Cari said the Primetime Investigates report had "finally put paid to the myth that this is a crime which relates to a small number of individuals".
It said it had seen the long-term negative impact on children who had been abused and had that abuse filmed and distributed.
National clinical director Dr Niall Muldoon said each image viewed, downloaded or shared represented a real child who had been hurt and damaged by an adult in the recording of that image.
“The scale of the abuse outlined in last night’s programme clearly indicates the barbaric nature of the crimes and the age range that can be abused, but equally importantly it showed us the true level of demand for such images in Ireland.”
Cari called on the Garda to follow up on the programme by “immediately arresting” all those who had been identified as sharing such images.
“Such action would, at long last, send a message of fear that you cannot get away with these crimes any longer and it would show the children of Ireland that we are finally standing up for them in a very real way,” Dr Muldoon said.
ISPCC director of services Caroline O’Sullivan said that while access to online communication could be a wholly positive experience for the majority of children and teenagers, there was a need for a “safety warning”.
She said the organisation had developed a ‘Safe Click’ code to offer tips to both parents and children for staying safe online.
The body said 98 per cent of children who contact its Childline service do so through their mobile phone or online. In 2009, the Childline website received more than 60,000 hits.