Online child pornography detections fall

There was a significant drop in the number of reports about online child pornography referred to an Irish helpline last year.

The Hotline.ie annual report showed that out of 2,646 reports about illegal content made by members of the public in 2010, 183 cases were considered to contain images of child abuse.

This compares to a peak figure of 718 cases in 2007 and to 275 cases for 2009.

Two of the cases reported were forwarded to An Garda Siochána for investigation as the content was found to be hosted in Ireland. In all other cases, the source location proved to be outside of the Republic and reports were forwarded to authorities in those countries.

Hotline.ie, which was set up by the Internet Service Providers Association of Ireland (ISPAI) in November 1999, said the decline in reports was welcome, as it showed fewer internet users were finding this type of content online.

The report showed that of the 2,646 reports submitted last year, most were assessed as being legal or were not investigated because they were outside Hotline.ie's remit.

The annual report shows a 28.2 per cent decline in online content assessed as being illegal last year with 204 reports referring to content deemed to be against the law, compared to 284 a year earlier.

Three reports submitted to the helpline covered racism, threats of violence against individuals and financial scams.

Speaking at the publication of helpline's annual report, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said while it was encouraging to see a decline in reports about child abuse images, there was no room for complacency.

"All of us who are concerned with protecting our society, and particularly our children and young people from illegal and harmful use of the Internet must be ever vigilant and ready to take necessary action," he said.

A report to Hotline.ie in 2008 led to the arrest and sentencing of a man in California last year. In a separate incident this year, a school teacher was arrested by Bulgarian police for possessions and distribution of child pornography thanks in part to a report submitted to the helpline.