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19th February 2018
05:00pm GMT
A Russian website is posting pictures of Irish children which are being viewed by child predators online.
The Irish Daily Mail states that hundreds of photos of children - mostly girls - are being posted on this website with disgusting captions.
It is believed that the images of the children have been taken from either a parent's social media account or the child's account themselves like Facebook or Snapchat.
Some of the photo albums on the site are titled: 'Irish school kids', 'Irish, sexy and not even 13 yet, 'Wow - all under 13 and from Limerick' and 'Irish dancers'.
Pat McKenna of Child Watch told the publication that: "There are images on this site that have clearly been taken from Snapchat and Facebook.
"Some of the users create fake profiles on Snapchat and Instagram and get these children to send images that ultimately end up being uploaded and shared elsewhere."
"They have been uploaded to what is regarded as a legitimate photo-sharing site.
"Users deal either in nude imagery that is not created for sexual purposes or non-nude imagery.
"This may be gleaned from social media pages, private family photos, or images specifically created to exploit children who would wear sexually attractive attire or pose in a sexually orientated fashion."
However, Detective Sergeant Mary McCormack told the publication that the Russian website is not an 'illegal sharing site'.
"Under Irish legislation, there is a definition of what these types of images are. That is the problem.
Unless we see the images and know whether they are child exploitation or child pornography they don't fall under the Act.
"Those are the images we would target because those children are in situations were they are maybe undressed or engaged in a sexual act.
"They are the images we would concentrate on."
