Some child abuse investigations are taking up to 10 years to pass through the courts.
Analysis shows it is taking on average five years for offenders to appear before a Judge.
This analysis by the Irish Times looked at every case of the possession or distribution of child abuse material that came before the Dublin circuit criminal court in the last two years.
Judges there have imposed sentences on 45 offenders since January 2018 - 25 of those avoided prison and received either a suspended sentence or probation.
It took on average around five years between gardai first seizing a device suspected of containing illegal material and an accused person being sentenced.
Some took 10 years.
Added to that is a delay in many court cases at the moment because of the recent High Court ruling relating to Graham Dwyer over data protection issues.
