Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is a welcome debate as it involves a subject on which we are all united, namely, the need to combat abuse and protect the most vulnerable in our society. The measures within the directive seem worthy and positive according to the briefing note we have received and I wish to comment on some of the proposals in order.

First, the move away from using the term "child pornography" to "child sexual abuse material", as well as an amendment in that definition to cover the generation of synthetically created material, is incredibly important. The former term is associated with a degree of glamour or even titillation, which is absolutely inappropriate. It should be noted the coverage of these issues by media and their treatment by other stakeholders has improved but we must always be vigilant in this regard. Every piece of material depicts a crime and constitutes an abuse in and of itself, which includes those generated by AI. Anything that can be done to always remind people of that is welcome.

The increasing of the levels of penalties for engaging with sexual activities with a child in respect of child prostitution is critical as a deterrent must be there. There must be a significant level of co-operation across member states and with third party countries given the fact that many criminals travel themselves or traffic children for these vile ends. A degree of extraterritoriality in the prosecution of people who travel and commit crimes needs to be considered as part of all laws within these areas. Similarly, the harmonisation of the offences of solicitation or grooming and online live-streaming across all member states captures the transnational nature of abuse. Whether acting alone or in concert with others, criminals will exploit whatever measures they can, and the tech platforms in particular must be faced with uniform and universal demand across member states. That all member states criminalise and provide for an effective investigation and prosecution of the events of live-streaming child sexual abuse is essential.

It is close to impossible to commit many of these heinous crimes without an online infrastructure whether it be encrypted apps or other means. The dark web, also a haven for drug dealing and terrorism, clearly plays a huge role. Again, international co-operation is crucial. I wish to raise one such case from 2021, which saw four people arrested in a multiagency operation sparked by a German investigation into one of Europe's most prolific child sexual abuse platforms on the dark web. All four were German nationals and were responsible for running the platform. The operation was as a result of an international task force set up by the German federal criminal police, which included Europol and law enforcement agencies from the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, Canada and the US. The site focused on the sexual abuse of children and had 400,000 registered users when it was taken down. To quote Europol itself:

The case illustrates what Europol is seeing in child sexual abuse offending: online child offender communities on the dark web exhibit considerable resilience in response to law enforcement actions targeting them. Their reactions include resurrecting old communities, establishing new communities, and making strong efforts to organise and administer them.

This is a clear and clarion call to us as legislators.

We must support this international co-operation between agencies in tackling these matters.

The victim provisions in the directive are a positive. Compensation, support and expertise must be given where people have been traumatised. These crimes leave lifelong scars. Individuals should be supported fully in attempting to rebuild their lives. Parental figures can be involved in the abuse, meaning State supports are more critical than ever. I sometimes meet people who suffered abuse as children and have gone through a life of self-loathing and blame. They need strong support to overcome that and rebuild their lives. Often, people block out this terrible crime that happened to them; for it to resurrect itself can have damaging effects. They need definite support. We also need more social workers to deal with families and give support to individuals who have been abused.

A requirement that member states ensure persons, units or services investigating and prosecuting the relevant offence have sufficient staff, expertise and effective investigative tools, including the possibility to conduct undercover investigations on the dark web, is important. I ask the Minister in this specific context if he is confident the Garda and other agencies have these tools. In the context of the ongoing debate on facial recognition technology, I understand the search of child abuse material by automated rather than manual means is part of why the Garda is requesting legislation on this matter. My colleagues, Deputies Daly and Cronin, received a briefing on this technology. What can the Minister of State share with the House what is happening in this regard? In summary, we support this directive and ask that further updates on its implementation be scheduled at a later date.

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