A boy, just six-year-old and from Co. Tipperary, has been taken into the care of the Child and Family Agency, following an investigation by Europol into European child pornography.
Last week an emergency care order, made at a District Court hearing in South Co Tipperary, was granted to gardaí and social workers. The order was given to remove a male child from where he resided and that an immediate medical examination be undertaken.
A social worker with the Child and Family Agency (Tusla) informed the court that Gardaí had first contacted her office on Monday, 24th March last, informing her that a search of a house in the county would be undertaken. Concerns, based on video footage of abuse uploaded online, that a child living at an address, may have suffered sexual abuse, were further conveyed to the agency .
This suspected abuse was communicated by Europol to the Garda Paedophile Investigations Unit in December 2014, latter who then traced same to a internet providers address here in Co. Tipperary. It is understood that social workers, in the company of gardaí, then searched the address and took the child immediately into care.
It is understood that detectives, involved in examining the discovered online information, identified that the boy in the house was indeed the child depicted in photographic footage and items found at the house including blankets etc. were also clearly identified. The child has now been removed and placed into foster care.
Over some 12 days experts in victim identification from 11 police agencies in nine different countries have worked together at Europol in an attempt to identify victims of sexual abuse and exploitation. It is now expected that future similar initiatives will result in a better chance of child victims being identified, through the combined effort of all European agencies.
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