Julian Myerscough, 53, formerly of Suffolk, absconded from Ipswich Crown Court on Wednesday.
A European arrest warrant was issued at the court on Thursday.
The Irish police and the UK National Crime Agency are now arranging to bring Myerscough, who had been due to fly on to Hungary, back to Britain.
Myerscough, previously of Alexandra Road, Lowestoft, but whose current address was given by police as Bolton, was found guilty in his absence of 16 offences of making indecent images of children.
He was also found guilty of breaching a sexual offences prevention order.
The former University of East Anglia academic was given the order when he was sentenced in 2010 for similar indecent images offences for which he also received a 15-month jail term.
Suffolk Police believe he boarded the 13:43 BST train from Ipswich towards London on Wednesday.
The Irish Garda said Myerscough had travelled to Dublin on the ferry from Holyhead in Wales on Thursday lunchtime.
Officers established he had booked a flight to Budapest but he was arrested at a hotel in Dublin city centre earlier on Friday.
Myerscough has since appeared at the High Court in Dublin and was remanded in custody until his next appearance on 20 October.
Det Insp Paul O'Brien, from the Garda's Sex Offender Management and Intelligence Unit, said: "This is an example of close co-operation between the Irish and UK authorities."
A former law lecturer who fled a Suffolk court before his conviction for making indecent images, has been arrested in Dublin.