Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I only have a short period of time but, for example, on 13 November Shane Phelan published an article entitled "Pimps and sex offenders among those using 'right to be forgotten". In the article he pointed out that "press coverage of the activities of a criminal who was behind a multi-million-euro vice ring has been 'forgotten' by Google following requests under EU privacy law...". He went on to give examples of where this has been used to delist very serious criminal offences, stating "The Irish Independent is also aware of the delisting of at least three articles relating to the conviction of men for possession of child sex abuse material.". The article is only from last year so that is in the public domain. It talks about other cases relating to the same issue. This is going on; it is happening. Google is facilitating this as we speak. It is regulated from this country. There is a responsibility on us to protect women and children throughout the EU by ensuring what is the law, and has been set out in the European Court of Justice, is actually applied in Ireland. Those are just a couple of brief examples within the time I have. I ask the Minister to engage with these organisations on the basis of ensuring categorically these cases are not delisted, especially for the people who waived their right to anonymity only to end up in a situation where Google decides this will be concealed again.

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