Out of the nine major cases to come before Irish courts involving men possessing illegal images of minors, just three offenders have been jailed, with the rest given suspended sentences.

Some individuals escaped jail even though they possessed as many as 11,000 images of infants being raped.

Paul Gilligan, chief executive of the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC), believes lenient sentencing only encourages the possession of child pornography, which is leading to victims being abused and even murdered abroad.

"I am not aware of any studies because this crime is relatively new but I would expect that we are more lenient than the United States, for example, and probably internationally as well, " he said.

Gilligan said the recent UK operation which resulted in 35 children being rescued from abusive situations showed there was a clear link between possessing child pornography and children being abused.

"This crime and its seriousness is not fully accepted or understood in Ireland, " he said. The ISPCC wants major child-protection investigations launched into all individuals convicted of possessing child porn to ensure they have not been in contact with, or abused, children.

"In general terms, we feel that lenient sentencing is not conducive to good child protection, " Gilligan said.