The vast majority of Irish people would support the introduction of mandatory online registration to stop under-18s from accessing internet pornography.

A Behaviour & Attitudes (B&A) poll for The Sunday Times found 85% were in favour of a system whereby anybody wishing to view pornography on the internet would have to verify they were an adult by using a recognised form of identification, such as a credit card, passport or driving licence.

Only 5% opposed such a registration scheme. The undecided and those with no opinion accounted for 10%.

Britain has legislated for an age verification system, also known as an age gate, with the passage of the Online Pornography (Commercial Basis) Regulations 2019, but it has not yet come into force because of technical hitches and data protection concerns.

There have been calls in Ireland for a similar law after evidence was given at the trial for the murder of Ana Kriegel that Gardai found thousands of images of pornography on the phone of one of the convicted boys, some of which depicted sexual violence. There had also been internet searches for “child porn” and “animal porn” on the phone.