Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for that final comment. As we prepare to reform our defamation laws, further remedies are available to journalists and activists who are subject to harassment when carrying out their work. For example, harassment within the meaning of section 10 of the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act 1997 carries a maximum penalty of up to ten years in prison. Any assault causing harm on any person is an offence under section 3 of the same Act.

A person convicted of such an offence would be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to a maximum fine of €2,500 or both. The Minister has signalled her intention to increase the maximum penalty available for this offence to ten years' imprisonment in amendments to the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, which is currently before the Oireachtas.

There is also Coco's Law, which the Minister commenced last year. Coco's Law strengthens the Government's response to harm perpetrated online as well as offline and ensures that individuals who commit crimes in contravention of this legislation can be brought to justice. This important Act not only created new offences relating to intimate image abuse, it also broadened the scope of the existing offence of harassment and increased the maximum penalty applicable. It provides for an offence of sending, distributing or publishing a threatening or grossly offensive message to or about another person with intent to cause harm. It also broadened the scope of the current offence of harassment under the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act, which previously referred to communication to a person. It now includes persistent communication about a person, sometimes referred to as indirect harassment. The maximum penalty for harassment has been increased from seven years to ten years to reflect the harm caused by the most serious forms of harassment.

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