Raheny Parish Priest, Father Tom Kearney, will tell parents from the pulpit tomorrow that children are accessing obscene websites in the local library.
"It's awful stuff, I didn't know it was happening and I'm not sure if parents do. If they did I'm sure they'd be very alarmed," he said. Raheny librarian Mr John Flanagan said he brought the matter to the priest's attention because as a parent and librarian he "had to take a stand". He said children as young as seven had been accessing unsuitable sites since the Internet service was introduced last July.
Mr Brendan Teeling, assistant director of the Library Council, an advisory body to the State's library services, said his organisation would issue guidelines on Internet use in the coming weeks. "We've looked into it quite a lot and it's not as simple as saying, yes, we'll have filtering software, because they are not proving to be foolproof."
Ms Deirdre Ellis-King, who runs the Dublin library system, said she would consider the installation of filtering systems as part of a review due to be completed in a fortnight. She said the issue had been blown out of proportion.