Anti-sex trafficking campaigners say criminal networks are arranging underage "sex holiday" packages for foreign tourists in parts of Southeast Asia, using encrypted messaging services and dark web contacts to share abuse material and coordinate travel.
Researchers and activists told the Irish Mail on Sunday that networks based in the Philippines — and, to a lesser extent, Thailand — have been advertising and organising trips that enable sexual exploitation of children. They said suspects in Western countries are contacted through encrypted platforms, online child abuse material is circulated, and arrangements are made for illicit trips.
Ruth Breslin, director of the Sexual Exploitation Research and Policy Institute, said the patterns amount to organised sex tourism that exploits both online anonymity and jurisdictions where offenders believe they can evade detection. "Men, they know, will pay good money to essentially have sexual access to a child," she said, adding that offenders "are willing to travel to somewhere they feel they will be anonymous and won't be detected." Breslin identified the Philippines and Thailand as countries that "come to mind" as hotspots for such operations.
Irish missionary Fr Shay Cullen, who founded the Preda Foundation to combat child sexual exploitation, described the illegal trade as a "multi-billion-dollar" industry often facilitated by encrypted online communications and livestreaming. Fr Cullen said organisers use online contacts to offer children for abuse, then host visitors who travel to the country to commit physical abuse before leaving quickly to avoid detection.
Campaigners have renewed calls for the Irish Government to consider travel restrictions on convicted sex offenders similar to measures introduced in Australia. Activists say Australia has refused passports to some convicted offenders and requires child sex offenders to seek permission to travel abroad, a model they argue would reduce the ability of known offenders to target children overseas.
Ireland's Justice Department said there are no current plans to impose travel restrictions beyond existing legislation. A spokesman noted that the Sex Offenders Act 2001, as amended, requires offenders to notify An Garda Síochána if they intend to leave the State for three days or more and to provide addresses and return dates for stays outside Ireland. The department added that a private members' Sex Offences (Amendment) Bill 2018, which proposed travel restrictions, lapsed with the dissolution of the Dáil.
Campaigners cited a high-profile case to underline their concerns. Former RTÉ sports producer Kieran Creaven was jailed in 2021 after footage surfaced showing him abusing a child in the Philippines; UK investigators recovered the material. Earlier legal action in 2018 resulted in Creaven receiving an 18-month sentence at Leeds Crown Court for attempting to incite what he believed was a 13-year-old girl to sexual activity; he had travelled from Ireland for that meeting and ended up communicating with online vigilantes. Campaigners say such cases illustrate how offenders will travel and use online channels to find victims.
Fr Cullen said his Preda Foundation has 34 ongoing court cases against abusers and traffickers and reported 13 convictions so far in 2025. He said the organisation has rescued and helped more than 1,600 girls since opening a home for sexually trafficked and abused children in the mid-1990s. Preda currently cares for almost 60 girls aged six to 18, he said, and relies on international partners rather than Philippine government funding.
Experts emphasised the role of encrypted platforms and the dark web in facilitating exploitation. A security source quoted by campaigners said underground networks using encrypted channels have been active for years, citing cases in which offenders travelled repeatedly to Southeast Asia and changed identities on return to avoid detection.
Breslin said Ireland's existing management of convicted sex offenders focuses on domestic notification and residential restrictions but does not sufficiently address overseas travel or online access to potential victims. "We are worried if a child sex offender lives next to a school, but we don't tell them not to go online where there is access to a whole world of potentially vulnerable children," she said.
Law enforcement agencies in multiple countries, international child protection groups and non-governmental organisations have for years warned about the growth of online-facilitated child sexual exploitation that spans national borders. Interpol, regional police forces and child protection charities routinely cite encrypted communications and livestreaming as challenges for investigations, requiring cross-border cooperation and specialised technical resources.
The Irish Justice Department said Minister Jim O'Callaghan and the department treat sexual exploitation and abuse of children with "the utmost seriousness" and pointed to the legislative framework that governs monitoring and risk management of convicted offenders. It did not commit to adopting Australia-style travel restrictions but highlighted notification requirements for international travel under current law.
Campaigners say additional measures could include tightening passport issuance and creating travel-permission requirements for convicted offenders, increased international cooperation to trace and prosecute organisers, and enhanced monitoring of encrypted online platforms. Fr Cullen and others working in the Philippines urged political and practical support from Ireland and other Western states to help prosecute traffickers, rescue victims and provide therapeutic support to enable testimony in court.
The allegations underscore persistent global concerns about child sexual exploitation and the ways that criminal networks and technology can combine to facilitate cross-border abuse. Authorities and advocacy groups continue to call for strengthened legal tools and international cooperation to disrupt the criminal networks that arrange and profit from such exploitation, and to limit opportunities for convicted offenders to travel to jurisdictions where children are put at risk.