Former civil servant avoids jail term for possessing child abuse material

Has no previous convictions and has not come to Garda attention since the incident

Niall Colgan of Muckross Park, Perrystown, Dublin 12, pleaded guilty to one count of possessing child pornography in the form of two indecent videos and two indecent images of children at his home address on February 1, 2022. File picture

A former civil servant who admitted possessing child abuse material has been handed a fully suspended prison sentence.

Niall Colgan, aged 39, told gardaí under caution when they arrived to carry out a search of his home in February 2022 that he “never touched any children, it's all fantasy and the photos of children were taken from Tiktok and Instagram”.

Colgan, of Muckross Park, Perrystown, Dublin 12, pleaded guilty to one count of possessing child pornography in the form of two indecent videos and two indecent images of children at his home address on February 1, 2022.

He has no previous convictions and has not come to Garda attention since this incident.

The court heard that Colgan was suspended from his role as a civil servant when his offending came to light and he has since resigned his position.

On Tuesday, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard Colgan was followed on two separate occasions after leaving the Criminal Courts of Justice building and the word “paedo” was also spraypainted on the wall of his family home.

Judge Martin Nolan noted that possession of child abuse material is a “serious matter”, but said that the amount of material in this case is “probably on the lower side of what the court deals with”.

He said Colgan had a “good position in life” before this offending and has been subject to “public odium”, ridicule, and some harassment, which was “unlawful and shouldn't have occurred”.

Imposing sentence, Judge Nolan said the court's view is that it is unlikely Colgan will re-offend “to a great degree” in future based on his previous good character. 

He noted that Colgan retains family support and obtained relevant services and help.

He handed Colgan a one-year prison sentence, suspended in full on strict conditions. 

He also noted that Colgan will be on the sex offenders register for a period of five years.