Thousands of images of young Irish girls photographed in “innocent” poses have ended up on pornography websites, an RTÉ documentary reveals.

The RTÉ Investigations Unit shows that photographs posted on social media by individuals are then being gleaned and published on hardcore pornography.

The investigation team set up a social media account using a computer-generated image of a 15-year-old girl named ‘Amy’ whose profile remained public for a week in early October. Within seven days, the account received direct private messages from teenage boys requesting her to exchange sexually explicit messages.

Former chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre Jim Gamble told the investigation that the photographs posted on social media accounts are being taken completely out of context and appearing alongside hardcore pornography images.

“I’ve seen images of young schoolgirls taken from their Facebook pages, which if you look in that context, some of them are pouting, or posing, almost sexually.

“Take that image and put it into a porn site, it’s uploaded and many fantasise over that image,” he says.

Detective Chief Inspector Alan Little explains that a stranger grooming a child online is just ‘as real’ as someone being abused in person.

“It’s the same thing for the child who is in their bedroom at half past ten on their iPhone, their laptop who are being groomed or abused and images being sent... that is every bit much as real as the child who is being abused or physically assaulted,” he said.

The programme airs tonight at 9.35pm on RTE 1.