Child sex dolls alert gardaí to paedophile risk

Gardaí say there is “no doubt” that paedophiles in Ireland will import child sex dolls — and may already be doing so — and are examining if these objects are covered under Irish criminal laws.

Senior officers said the dolls — which are child-like in appearance, weight, and anatomy — appear to be criminalised under child pornography laws.

However, a legal expert said any such prosecution “would be contested” in the courts as a defendant could argue that such a doll is not a child or that the doll does not equate with a child as covered by child pornography laws.