The Court of Appeal has upheld an eight-and-a-half-year aggregate sentence, with the final three years suspended, imposed on David McGrath for three offences of possessing child pornography.
In a judgment delivered on 21 April 2026, the court dismissed McGrath's severity appeal after finding no error of principle in the sentencing judge's approach.
The offences arose from material found during searches connected with McGrath's Dublin address. One laptop contained 1,730 images in September 2018. A later search in December 2020 resulted in the discovery of 2,241 images on another laptop and 445 images on a smartphone.
The Court of Appeal classified 1,500 of the images across the three charges as Category 1 material involving children in sexually explicit activity, with another 2,916 classified as Category 2 child-exposure images.
McGrath had two previous District Court convictions from 2017 for possession of child pornography, for which he received fully suspended four-month and six-month sentences. He was also subject to monitoring and supervision under the Sex Offenders Act from March 2017 to March 2022.
The court regarded it as particularly significant that the 2020 offences occurred after McGrath had already been arrested and interviewed concerning the 2018 offence and while that investigation remained ongoing.
Mitigating factors included his cooperation with Gardaí, guilty pleas, personal circumstances, remorse and evidence that he was willing to engage with treatment. A psychological report also identified depression, anxiety and childhood abuse, but assessed him as presenting a high risk of reoffending.
The Court of Appeal held that the sentencing judge had remained within her lawful discretion. The cumulative sentence, including consecutive elements and the three-year suspension, was neither excessive nor disproportionate, and the appeal was dismissed.