A former RTÉ producer has been sentenced to ten years in prison for sexually assaulting and exploiting children.
Kieran Creaven, of Adelaide Street in Dún Laoghaire, engaged with them online and also travelled to the Philippines in 2014 where he sexually abused a young girl.
He came to Garda attention after being arrested in Leeds four years ago following a sting operation by a so-called paedophile hunter group.
He thought he was going to meet a teenage girl he had been chatting to on Facebook.
His arrest led to the discovery of two video clips on a memory stick, which showed him sexually abusing a young girl in the Philippines.
The Garda investigation also revealed explicit online chats he’d been having with children, especially on his social media platforms.
Judge Melanie Greally described Creavan’s behaviour as being “degrading in the extreme.”
She said he exploited and abused vulnerable children, some of whom were being used for financial gain.
She then sentenced the 59-year-old to ten years in prison.
Speaking outside court today, Detective Superintendent Barry Walsh said gardaí work closely with other police forces to bring people like Kieran Creavan to justice.
He said: "The conviction, in this case, is a clear statement that there's no safe haven for those people who choose to engage in sexual abuse or child sexual exploitation - whether that's here in Ireland or abroad.
"An Garda Síochana works with a wide range of international law enforcement partners to prevent and detect child sexual abuse."
