A Dublin man who set up a fake social media profile to convince a 15-year-old girl to come to his house and have sex with him has been jailed for three years.
Conor O'Keefe, 26, from Oakdale Close, Ballycullen was convicted at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of sexual exploitation and defilement of the teenager in July 2011.
The court heard he groomed the teenager online by pretending to be a 13-year-old girl.
O'Keefe's defence counsel described it as a "once-off incident" and said he had since become a father.
Judge Sarah Brekeley described O'Keefe's actions as predatory and sentenced him to five years in prison with two years suspended.
Clíona Saidléar from the Rape Crisis Network has said that she welcomes the sentence and that the case highlights the issue of online grooming.
Speaking on RTÉ News At One, she said she does not believe a child who is 15-years-old can be a willing participant and that with online grooming predators set up victims against themselves, making them in some way culpable of the crime.
Ms Saidléar said the Sexual Offences Bill, coming through the Oireachtas, will be critical in keeping up to date with the new opportunities available to predators online.
She said that the vulnerability of teenagers has been exacerbated by the online area.
