No Irish links in study on internet child porn

None of the child pornography found on the internet last year originated in Ireland, a report has discovered.

Images of serious child sex abuse accounted for 79 per cent of calls to the hotline which deals with concerns about the contents of websites on the internet.

The hotline was set up by the Internet Service Providers' Association of Ireland (ISPAI) eight years ago to monitor content on the internet.

The report found 2,677 complaints were made last year, an increase of 12 per cent on 2005. Of those, a total of 423 were later found to have included illegal content, an increase of 10 per cent on last year. However, neither the association hotline for 26 similar hotlines set up worldwide have traced any of the child pornography to Ireland. More than half of all child pornography on the internet originates in the United States.

The association's general manager Paul Durrant said: "The ISPAI is very pleased by the fact that no illegal child pornography reported to the hotline was traced to a source in Ireland. Having this corroborated by the other members' hotlines is very reassuring."

There has also been a marked decline in the amount of spam e-mail that advertises illegal pornographic content. It accounted for 35 per cent of complaints last year, down from 85 per cent in 2001.

Minister for Children Brian Lenihan said he was pleased that there was an increased willingness on the part of the public to report illegal content.