An Irish detective working with Interpol in the fight against child exploitation has said the authorities are "reclaiming the internet" from paedophiles.

Det Sgt Michael Moran said it was a myth that organised criminals were behind the trade in child pornography and that instead it is mainly paedophiles who exchange disturbing images of abuse among themselves.

The Criminal Intelligence Officer was involved in the global hunt for Canadian paedophile Christopher Neil who was captured in Thailand last year. The former schoolteacher was arrested after detectives unscrambled an internet photograph that had been digitally altered to disguise his identity.

Speaking at the CARI (Children at Risk in Ireland) Foundation's annual conference in Dublin yesterday, Det Sgt Moran said police worldwide would stop at nothing when it comes to catching child abusers who are using the internet.

"One of the myths in this whole area is the similarities between this crime and organised crime. We have taken away their method of payment so child exploitation sites are finding it more and more difficult to be paid for their material ... Most images are now exchanged among like-minded people.

"One of the biggest challenges we face is the sheer scale of the problem. This is the first time in humanity that we've a situation where people can access illegal material from their bedrooms. This is a logistical nightmare for police services globally," he added.

Det Sgt Moran said that police forces, NGOs, academics and the media should stop calling it "child pornography" and instead call it "child abuse material". He said parents should speak to their kids and make sure they don't give out personal details when using social internet networking sites.

Conference delegates heard that police forces have to go through a complicated legal process to get information on suspected paedophiles from internet service providers as many of these are based overseas. While gardai here can request information from Irish internet companies, when it comes to foreign firms some will demand payment in return for details on child abusers.

Det Sgt Moran said this was "unfortunate", however Interpol was having discussions with internet service providers with the hope of changing this.