Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree wholeheartedly and hope that is the case across the board. I am not suggesting for one moment that the witness would ever engage in such conduct and I do not for a moment believe he did. The point I am trying to make is we have seen it happen in separate events. The history and conduct of an individual has been taken into account in rape cases. I am merely making the suggestion that we could have a similar position here. For example, we know it is predominantly women who are the subject of this particular crime. If a woman has images on her Instagram where she is wearing a low-cut top and she is then "down-shirted" or "down-bloused" - whatever term one wants to use - the suggestion could be made that no harm has come to that person because she has posted similar images online. My question is whether it is an absolute crime. Is it enough to prove that a photograph was taken without consent and posted, where it is considered an intimate photograph? Who decides whether the photograph is intimate? Does it continue to be intimate if the victim posts similar photographs? Does one have to justify or explain previous actions?

I appreciate that once a crime is committed, it is committed, but there are major variances in sentencing because of the discretion that exists. The public will ask these questions and I am posing them as a devil's advocate. What informs the sentencing if there is a level of discretion? I could hear what I would consider an attack on a victim in terms of previous history and judges are people too. We are all influenced by what we see and hear and the suggestion is that all of this, all of the time, can be left at the door and separated. If one is subjected to hearing that information one cannot but in some ways be influenced, no matter how hard one tries not to be.