McDonald's worker confronted over child grooming allegations

Gardai are investigating an incident in Navan last night when a McDonald's restaurant employee was confronted by members of 'Child Protection Awareness' which looks to expose paedophiles by posing as young children online.

The man who was working in the restaurant was confronted by up to four members of the group with the incident relayed via a live Facebook broadcast which has been viewed almost 200,000 times in just 12 hours. 

In the 19 minute video the man appeared to admit to sending sexually explicit material to girls as young as 11 & 9.

The interview ended as two uniformed garda arrived on the scene and asked the Child Protection Awareness members to leave before speaking to the employee.

The work of so-called 'Paedophile Hunter'  groups who engage with people suspected of grooming underage girls online was put under the spotlight earlier this year when RTE producer Kieran Creavan (55), was filmed in Leeds where he had travelled to meet up with a 13-year-old girl with whom he had made contact with online. Instead he was met by members of the Predator Exposure group. 

He had flown from Dublin to meet his victim at The Queens Hotel in Leeds city centre in November last year. Kieran Creavan pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to meet a girl under the age of 16 years of age following grooming and was released on bail to be sentenced on February 12.

Commenting on the incident this morning a spokesperson for McDonald's said “McDonald’s and its franchisees have strict policies in place when it comes to recruiting employees and matters such as this are taken extremely seriously. The employee will not be working in the restaurant while an investigation takes place.”

Superintendent Mick Devine from Navan Garda station said that the incident was "thoroughly investigated overnight and that a file relating to the incident in its entirety would be forwarded to the DPP."