Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Harrington asked what is going on. The Minister for Justice and Equality has already referred the harassment issue, under the Non-fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997, to the Law Reform Commission and asked it to report on that matter. The Deputy will be aware that in terms of changing criminal law the Law Reform Commission regularly reports, having teased out issues in the type of detail necessary. In this case, the Minister has made that referral, particularly in the context of cyber bullying. It will be interesting to read the findings of that report.

On Deputy Harrington's question about whether this issue is being debated on a cross-jurisdictional basis and so on, the answer is, "Yes". I referred earlier to the Council of Europe and European Union, where work is under way focused mainly on the production of guidelines in this particular area. Last year, the European Union adopted Council conclusions on better Internet usage for children. The Council of Europe and Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe has also contributed an amount of well considered recommendations and guidelines in this regard. If committee members wish, my Department can furnish details of these conclusions to them to assist the committee in its work.