Garda technical staff will this week begin examining almost 100 computer hard drives suspected of containing pornographic images including the rape of children.
The equipment was seized in a nationwide series of searches yesterday.
It was the largest police operations in recent years and by far the biggest mounted against suspected paedophiles. More than 500 gardaí were involved.
Some 90 homes and offices were raided yesterday and equipment and software seized. No arrests were made but the hard drives and other material - including details of credit card transactions - are now being examined by detectives and forensic experts.
The Irish Times understands the Garda was supplied with the names of almost 100 suspected paedophiles, who were detected using child pornography sites under observation by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) over the past three years.
The Garda operation, codenamed "Operation Amethyst", follows similar police operations across the world arising from the initial "Cybernet" investigation by the FBI into the trading in child pornography.
British police have arrested and charged more than 30 men as part of a nationwide investigation. Recent British, Irish and other European investigations have all stemmed from original Cybernet investigative work. Cybernet led to the detection of several thousand people across the world who were buying and trading images of child pornography.
Paedophiles trade a wide range of material on the Internet but images include those of children being raped by men.
Concern over the trading of images of child rape on the Internet grew in recent years after the emergence of details of the Belgian paedophile ring which was kidnapping, raping and murdering children.
The ring came to light after the arrest in 1996 of Marc Dutroux, who is still awaiting trial in Belgium. Police discovered the bodies of two eight-year-old girls in the basement of a house belonging to Dutroux. At least 15 other young girls had disappeared in Belgium in the previous decade.
Images of the rape and torture of young girls and boys are said to be frequently traded by paedophiles on the Internet.
A great deal of work on the trading of paedophile images on the Internet was carried out by the applied psychology department of University College Cork since the mid-1990s. Evidence discovered by the department was used in the successful prosecution of a man trading in child pornographic images in England earlier this year.
Yesterday's Garda operation was organised by the National Bureau of Crime Investigation's Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence unit.
The seized hard drives will be examined by forensic experts, who should be able to ascertain if images of paedophile pornography have been downloaded. Evidence can usually be detected on computer hard drives.
Credit card transactions with online companies trading in paedophile images can also be detected through bank records.
If evidence of paedophile pornography is detected on a computer hard drive, and other evidence is at hand, a person can be charged under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998.
The Act carries sentences of up to 14 years for making or distributing images. About 20 men have already been prosecuted under the Act.