There has been an alarming rise in the volume of child sexual abuse content online, with reports of illegal material by members of the public at an all-time high.

Tip-offs from Irish-based internet users regarding online child sex abuse are now as likely to feature reports of young boys being abused as young girls, according to an expert monitoring group.

Just one of the 28 main internet providers in the country has so far signed up to a voluntary code of practice with the Gardaí restricting access to child abuse material.

Meeting dangerous people online, rather than watching pornography, is the greatest fear parents have when their children surf the web.

More than half of parents have not put any protections in place to protect their children from accessing harmful or inappropriate material online.

IRISH Internet Service Providers (ISPs) provide infrastructure that allows users to access the unimaginably vast and diverse content that companies and people anywhere in the world choose to make available on the internet.

Campaigners against child abuse material available online are calling on the Department of Justice to bring in a range of measures, including laws to combat internet access to images of children of a sexual nature.

INTERNET service providers cannot be forced to stop the public from illegally downloading files from the internet, an EU court has ruled.

THE first case of child pornography being hosted on an Irish website came to light last year after eastern European criminals hijacked the site.

The vast majority of illegal websites reported to an Irish internet watchdog last year no longer exist or had the criminal content wiped, it emerged today.

An Irish internet watchdog received more than 2,500 reports of suspected child porn last year, it was revealed today.

INTERNET service providers are virtually powerless to prevent cyber-bullying, with social networking sites fast becoming a popular vehicle for targeting vulnerable young people.

PARENTS need to learn more about the internet to help ensure their children are using it safely, experts have warned.