Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

There is a special place in hell for anybody who commits a sexual crime against a child. While we cannot do much about places in hell, we can do things about places in prison. We can do things about making sure our legislation and resourcing are as robust as possible. As the Deputy rightly said, we need to come at this with every possible resource and avenue. I appeal to the Oireachtas to please listen to An Garda Síochána about the tools and legislative changes it needs in terms of technology. There was a rush of people into this place the last time but none of those people were involved in stopping the exploitation of children online. The gardaí are asking and the Garda Commissioner has asked this place to give them more powers in relation to facial recognition technology. The Dáil has not quite shrugged its shoulders, but it has not done much more than that. We have to act on this. The Minister is determined to act on it. The Government is determined to act on it. Technology and facial recognition technology have a role to play here in getting on top of these predators and bringing an end to some of these disgusting practices.

There is also a role at an EU level. We need the European Union to decide whose side it is on here. We have had discussions about social media, digital media and all that sort of stuff. The EU needs to put the protection of children ahead of any other interest in terms of online platforms. We will continue to engage intensively on this.

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