Over one-third of people who carry out child sexual abuse are children themselves and the vast majority are boys. A report from the Rape Crisis Network has found that children under-13 are most likely to abused by a family member.

But the opposite is true for teenage girls whose vulnerability to rape increases with age.

This is the first report to look at child sex abuse and how it effects children of different ages and gender. It found that the family members pose the greatest risk to children and not strangers, and that is particularly true for children under 13.

The report also highlights abuse carried out by children themselves. 37% of all perpetrators are children, 97% of them are boys.

Speaking at the launch of the report, the Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald said she has given the go ahead for the appointment of eight new child sex abuse prevention positions around the country.

Four of these will deal specifically with children who display sexually harmful behaviour:

Director-General of the Rape Crisis Network is Fiona Neary.

She says we need to rethink our perception of abusers, and is blaming pornography for distorting the image of sex and consent among boys.