The Chief Executive of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) has said she is surprised and disappointed at the leniency of the sentence handed down to Tom Humphries.

Humphries, a former Irish Times journalist, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for grooming a teenage girl and sexually abusing her.

The 54-year-old sent the girl thousands of sexually-explicit texts before going on to meet her for sexual acts, beginning when she was 14-years-old.

Judge Karen O'Connor said an aggravating factor was the age and status differences - he was an eminent, respected journalist, she was a schoolgirl.

Noeleen Blackwell from the DRCC said, from what she has read of the judgment, Ms Justice O'Connor spent a lot of time thinking about the impact of the crime on the convicted man.

She said that while the victim was mentioned, there seems to have been less consideration on how this had affected the victim and her family.

"This man committed a great deal of acts of sexual violence on a young girl, and took her childhood, and his sentence looks very light for the crime that he committed," Ms Blackwell said.

She said it sends out a message to our society about how we regard somebody who did have a good job and had a good position, who has fallen from grace, as against an innocent child whose childhood was taken.

Humphries was one of the country's most prominent and outspoken sportswriters and commentators.

He was also a volunteer and coach with junior girls GAA teams and it was in that position that he sexually abused a child.

In 2008, he contacted the girl by text message.

He first encouraged her in sport and in her personal life, before moving on to send her obscene and sexually explicit messages.

He exchanged more than 16,000 messages with her in three months in 2011.

This phone contact enabled him to meet and sexually abuse the girl when she was 16-years-old.

Humphries' crimes were uncovered when a family member discovered some of those messages on his old mobile phone. His family called in gardaí.

Earlier this year Humphries pleaded guilty to sex crimes against a child.

In her victim impact statement, his victim said dealing with sexual encounters with a man three times her age left her physically, mentally and emotionally sick.

She had missed out on school and sport, she was left depressed and, at times, suicidal.

She said she had lost her childhood and her trust in men.

The woman thanked Humphries' family for reporting him to gardaí. It had, she said, saved her from the situation.

Camogie Association reaffirms commitment to high standards over child welfare

The Camogie Association has said that it reaffirms its "continued effort to ensure the highest standards in relation to Child Welfare & Protection for all young members involved in our game".

In a statement, the association said that it and the Gaelic Games Association will continue to uphold the commitment to these standards through their joint-Code of Best Practice in Youth Sport when Working with Underage Players, the "Our Games, Our Code".

The statement said: "This Code brings together the legislative, statutory and organisational guidance that governs our work with young people and children.

"All codes and documents on Child Welfare & Protection are continuously reviewed and updated jointly by the Associations.

"Our role and our responsibility is to ensure that young people benefit from and participate in Camogie in a safe and enjoyable environment. Actions that breach this code, trust and ethos are unacceptable in any context."

Sportswriter David Walsh, who faced criticism for writing a court character reference for Tom Humphries, has said he unequivocally condemns the "terrible wrong" his friend committed.