Gardaí investigating child sex offences should have the power to seek a court order to obtain data from internet giants based here, according to a leading expert.

Stranger danger and grooming by paedophiles are no longer the only cyber threats to children. Experts now say the most likely source of online sexual exploitation is a child’s own friends.

More specific sex education should be considered at primary school level, according to one of the speakers at an international conference on the treatment of sex offenders which opens in Dublin today .