Dr. Mary Aiken:

In some jurisdictions such as the United States a once-off act of serious bullying constitutes grounds for prosecution. The point I am trying to make is that we cannot take a fragmented approach. We are talking about cyberbullying and harassment, but we must look at all areas of online harm simultaneously if we wish to address them effectively. That is being done very well in the United Kingdom. I note this as an Irish citizen who has been party to advising that process and is proud of what has been achieved there. A very poignant example of the need to address all areas of online harm arose in the comments in July of Mr. Justice Michael White, an esteemed High Court judge, in dealing with a case involving a boy who had sexually exploited his two younger cousins. He spoke about his great concern at the number of cases of young children who were committing serious offences as a result of pornography on their smartphones. There has been an unprecedented surge in the number of such cases coming before the criminal courts. It was reported that the young girl who was the victim in the case had stated she wanted the sexual contact to stop. The young boy sent her text messages outlining that he had pictures and video recordings of their previous sexual contact. The court heard that he told her that he would disseminate them to her friends and others online if she did not continue to have sex. That is revenge porn. After the event had come to light, she told gardaí that she had had sex with the boy again because she was afraid of this threat. One must consider the relationship between the act of revenge porn and the availability of adult pornography to children online. These areas are all connected. If we are to enact legislation in one area, we must consistently look at all of these areas as, otherwise, we will not tackle the problems effectively.