A former garda sergeant attempted to pay prostitutes to get children as young as five for sex a year after he had been released for a similar offence the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court has heard.
Kieran O’Halloran (48) offered two prostitutes up to €10,000 to source the children and asked one to organise “three or four children in a hotel room” for him to have sex with.
He also asked one to get him a picture of a new-born baby with their genitals on view.
O’Halloran pleaded guilty to inciting the women “to organise or knowingly facilitate the use of a child for the purpose of sexual exploitation” in October 2005 and April 2006.
Gardaí began investigating him after one of the prostitutes tipped them off because she was disgusted by the requests.
O’Halloran of Liffey Court, Clane, Co Kildare and Westminister Park, Foxrock was jailed for three years in 2003 for an almost identical offence and a twenty year post-release supervision order was also imposed.
Judge Katherine Delahunt demanded to know how much interaction he had with the probation service following his original release.
She adjourned sentencing until March so gardaí could interview probation officers about their supervision of O’Halloran.