Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----but there are aspects of it that go too far, particularly if it comes to taking agricultural land out of use for food production. In urban areas, there are issues where it might become harder, for example, to turn a grass pitch into an all-weather pitch. There is a long way to go before this regulation is right. Negotiations are ongoing. I encourage people to engage in the debate next week in a productive way and suggest how the legislation can be improved and what compromises can be made in order that it is fit for purpose. I share concerns people have across rural and urban Ireland about some aspects of it going too far and not fully recognising how we use land in Ireland. The Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, made those points very well at the weekend.

On the sharing of videos and images that are designed to humiliate people - involving violent and sexual imagery on many occasions - online, the Online Safety Commissioner is in place. Coimisiún na Meán is up and running. It is still in its early days, but much can be done to require platforms to take down such videos. Some of them did, in fairness; others did not. We need to have the sanctions in place to fine companies that do not live up to their own community standards. That work is in very much under way. There is a Government campaign of which Deputies will be aware to inform people that sharing sexual images or even threatening to do so is a crime. That very useful campaign was launched by the Minister, Deputy Harris, the other day. Other messages are important too. We need to say to people and individuals that they have a responsibility not to share images or videos of this nature. I know some people who do so in solidarity, but that is not the way to show solidarity. There is also a responsibility on the traditional media. Very often, the number of people who see these images could be as low as a few thousand or ten thousand. It is when they are signposted by the traditional media that the figures then go very high. They have responsibilities too.

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