IT was one of the biggest and most dramatic garda operations ever, with some 500 officers taking part in synchronised raids by almost every garda division in the country.

BRIAN CURTIN had his first brush with public controversy when in 2002 he judged the case of a West Cork farmer who sexually abused three young girls.

A MAJOR breakthrough in the international trade in child porn images may have been made with the arrest of a man in his mid 20s, whose computer equipment was seized during a raid by detectives.

A RECLUSE who fled his Waterford home after he was assaulted and became the subject of a vigilante attack has been placed on the sex offender’s register until his next court appearance in June, 2004.

A FORMER children's fun park owner last night began a six-month jail sentence for buying and viewing child pornography on the internet.

The latest sex offenders’ list, which requires those convicted of sexual crimes to register with their local Garda Siochána, is growing almost four times faster in this country than in Britain, relative to the population of each country.

IT’S an unfortunate coincidence that Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne retires in the same week as six gardaí appear in court charged with assault causing harm against civilians.

AMID all the hype of the court cases surrounding Operation Amethyst, there has been a lot talk about the horror of the abuse of children.

CLAIMS that Irish children have been used in the making of child pornography are extremely disturbing and throw the present controversy into sharp relief.

Two men, one a Circuit Court judge, are to face charges next week in connection with police raids last year in an international crackdown against child pornography.

A NUMBER of people whose homes were searched during a nationwide crackdown on child pornography are due to appear in court shortly.

A judge whose home was raided in a garda operation aimed at stamping out internet child pornography has been ordered to hear no more cases until the investigation is over.