Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I share the concerns raised by Deputy Munster. When speaking of the online world, we are speaking about a very different reality. Often people's behaviour online does not reflect the behaviour they exhibit when standing in front of someone. If an individual were to receive a sexually explicit message – via an app, let us say – would it be a defence to say the intent was not to cause fear or distress and that the sending of the message was simply the norm on the app? I share Deputy Munster's concern particularly because of the arena we are speaking about. It is not face to face but virtual, which has connotations. I will give a very simple example. A message delivered face to face is often interpreted differently than it would be if delivered by text. In his regard, the section to be introduced will need to be amended because it does not go far enough or take into consideration the online or virtual arena.