Ireland’s national child sexual abuse agency has reported a rise in sexually harmful behaviour among children.
Children at Risk in Ireland (CARI) says the rise is driven by increased exposure to online pornography and harmful digital content.
CARI is a service supporting children and families affected by child sexual abuse.
It says referrals for children engaging in unsafe or age-inappropriate sexualised behaviour rose from 8% in 2024 to 27% percent in 2025.
Chief Executive Clinical Officer of CARI Emer O’Neill, said that children under the age of 12, cannot process exposure to sexual material, so they act it out with siblings or peers.
She said if the issue is not tackled effectively, it can generate further cycles of abuse.
Ms O’Neill said the numbers show a growing and urgent need for therapy services and called on government and technical companies to act now to protect children on and offline.
Launching the organisation’s strategy, she said that behind every statistic is a child, a family and a statistic that deserves to be heard.
CARI currently has therapy services available in Dublin and Limerick. The organisation called for an increase in funding from the Government and Tusla to expand their therapy services nationally and to bring waiting lists down.
Speaking at CARI’s strategy launch in Dublin, Minister for Children Norma Foley said everyone has a role in keeping children safe from harm.
She said the work of CARI is powerful and at its core it serves children and society.
‘Deeply worrying issue’ – minister
She said child sexual abuse is a “deeply worrying issue” for the Government and she said it must be taken “extremely seriously”. She said everyone plays a role in the protection of children.
The minister said there is now less silence in terms of child sexual abuse, however, she said the terrible reality is that the scourge of child sexual abuse has not gone away.
Minister Foley said the use of AI to create fake explicit images of children is rising and is “deeply deeply worrying”.
Minister Norma Foley said the use of AI to create fake explicit images of children is rising
She said that the world and big tech has got to learn to listen and to act in a way to protect children and that children’s safety is a key priority for the Government and for society.
She said when we get it right for children we get it right for society and that child sexual abuse should never shape a child’s future.
Tony Delaney, CEO SYS Group, a survivor of child sexual abuse spoke about his story.
The Tipperary man and former hurler said there was nowhere to go when he needed therapy but did not have the money for it.
He said it was disgraceful that people do not have therapy services available to them due to lack of funding and that he was now able to afford therapy and was working through his issues.
Mr Delaney said that he had struggled with alcohol due to the abuse and that that when people are abused they turn to suicide, alcohol and drug addiction.
He said many people have died by suicide and taken the abuse to the grave and that services like CARI are so important to ensure children get the services early to give them mechanisms to talk and to cope later in life.