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Published 15/06/2008 | 00:00

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CHILDREN as young as 10 years of age are taking sexually explicit pictures of themselves before uploading them onto the internet -- according to Ireland's leading Criminal Intelligence Officer at Interpol.

A celebrity obsessed generation of children who see their idols flashing their genitalia for paparazzi are going online and self-producing child pornography.

Irish Detective Sergeant Michael Moran, who is one of the world's leading experts in the fight against child exploitation, has warned parents to be extra vigilant about their children uploading self-made pornography.

"Everything from posing naked to actual sex acts on web cams. We are seeing a lot more self-produced child pornography to the extent that self-taking child abusive material is one of our biggest problems at the moment."

Mr. Moran explains how an increasing number of children are "living" on the internet so that the normal exploration of sexuality as they develop is now being carried out by children online.

"Whether it's a misunderstanding or a recklessness of youth and natural risk taking, these kids are carrying out their rite of passage online and are self-producing what the law would call child pornography.

"This whole Paris Hilton generation who see their idols every day of the week flashing knickerless genitals getting out of Porsches, I wonder if that is having an effect on these kids to the extent that nudity is not as big of a deal as it was for previous generations and so the result of that is that they think it's perfectly normal."

He describes one particular case where two children were tricked into posting pictures of themselves online with the promise of a modelling deal.

"Two young friends, 10 and 11, were chatting online and met someone [for whom] they produced quite graphic images of themselves and they ended up on the internet. The really sad thing is that the pictures are now being used as advertising photographs on the front pages of some of these [child exploitative] websites."

Mr. Moran, also said some children are posting sexually explicit photographs in return for phone credit and gave a stark warning to parents who allow their children private and unmonitored access to the internet.

"Having a computer in their bedroom is bananas. These are the same parents who won't allow their kids to use the telephone but they'll allow them to have an internet connection in their bedrooms. It's madness. The internet should be in a shared room at all times."

The advice comes in the lead up to a new documentary about paedophilia which examines the taboo subject and asks if it is something that can be cured.

Mr Moran, whose job involves trawling through graphic images of children being sexually exploited in order to help in the hunt for child abusers, says he has learned to deal with the disturbing material.

"It was hard at the start. I'm constantly being faced with graphical representations of stuff that you'd find it hard to believe that one human being can do to another, especially a vulnerable human being. But anyone working in the heat of a social battle is going to have certain issues that they have to deal with.

"I have huge police empathy when I see these images and I feel sorry for them and I want to solve the crime and I want to warn the kids not to do this and warn the parents to keep an eye on their kids. I'm not playing the big police man here; I'm simply saying parents really have to show an interest in the people their kids are talking to online."

But Mr Moran says working tirelessly to save some of the most vulnerable children in society is what makes his job worthwhile.

"We're the ones picking up the pieces when society fails and sometimes that's ugly. There are always one or two cases that you find it hard to shake off. I do my best for the children and switch off the screen at the end of the day knowing I'm doing my best to prevent it happening again.

"We've had some spectacular success where we've rescued children and that makes it all worthwhile. When you pull one out of the heap, it's always nice."

'Science Friction -- Paedophilia: Is there a Cure?' is on Tuesday, June 17, at 10pm on RTE One