A civil servant has been suspended from his job after he was interviewed by gardaí investigating the sexual abuse of a 14-year-old boy by up to 12 men in Dublin.
It is believed the man works for the Chief State Solicitor's Office and was interviewed after presenting himself at a Garda station a number of days ago.
A Government spokesman said they were referring all inquiries on the matter to the Garda. A Garda spokeswoman said: "We are not privy to the investigation which is ongoing".
However, speaking at a press event in Dublin, Minister for Justice Michael McDowell confirmed the civil servant had been suspended without prejudice.
"As I understand it, a member of the Chief State Solicitor's office has been suspended," he said.
He said he did not want to say too much about the situation. However, he understood ther person's duties had "nothing to do whatsoever" with these kind of offences.
Concerns were raised in the Dáil this morning that there may now be no offence under Irish law whereby a person involved in a paedophile ring can be charged with soliciting a child and Mr McDowell said the matter was being investigated.
He said the question was raised whether an unintended consequence of emergency legislation put through the Dáil last year might have left a loophole in the law and that if this turned out to be the case, the loophole would be closed.
However, Mr McDowell said any new legislation would not affect the current case under investigation by the Garda, because the law could not apply retrospectively.
He understood that the gardaí were satisfied that there are several offences in relation to the use of the internet and protection of children which would enable them to pursue the current case, he said.
Gardaí said earlier this week they believe that up to 12 men - including a garda, a language teacher and a truck driver - may be implicated in a case.
The victim, from north Dublin, began surfing an international gay website just over two months ago, according to Garda sources. It appears other Irish-based users of the site quickly targeted him and established contact with him via his mobile phone.
It is not clear yet how many, if any, of these men knew each other or if they were part of a paedophile ring.
At least two of the men, both in their 40s, have repeatedly had sex with the boy over the past two months at different addresses in north and south Dublin, according to gardaí.
The suspects were arrested late last week and interviewed under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act on suspicion of sexually assaulting a minor.
The garda implicated in the investigation is in his early 20s. He is a probationary garda at a south Dublin station.
His identity was established because his phone number was attached to the explicit texts sent to the boy. He was contacted by gardaí and last Friday evening presented himself for questioning.
The garda was not arrested and was instead interviewed under caution. He was released without charge, and a file is being sent to the DPP. He was suspended from duty at the weekend.
"It was effectively abolished because the section of the Children Act that prohibited soliciting and importuning was framed by reference to specific sexual offences against children. But those specific sexual offences were repealed by the 2006 Act and replaced by new offences. The end result is that section 250 of the Children Act 2001 now has no effect or meaning."