A former Garda Sergeant charged with soliciting and possession of child pornography was today remanded in custody for sentence by the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
The court heard that Mr Kieran O'Halloran (41) with an address at Five Oaks, Drogheda, Co Louth, paid a prostitute £100 to procure for him a girl aged between seven and 10 years for sex.
He told her he didn't see it as sexual abuse because he was willing to pay for the service.
She took down his mobile telephone number and said she would meet him on the south side of the city but, instead, she contacted the gardai.
Gardai obtained a search warrant for his home where they seized two computers. Pornographic material was recovered from one of the computers showing a number of pictures of children engaged in naked poses and sexual activity.
However, a newer model had a number of images deleted but gardai were able to access a number of child pornography websites that had previously been visited by O'Halloran.
Mr O'Halloran, a married father-of-one pleaded guilty to soliciting a woman to procure a child for the purpose of her sexual exploitation and to the possession of child pornography.
Judge Frank O'Donnell said he needed time to consider every aspect of the case and remanded O'Halloran for sentence on February 7th.