Lorraine Higgins (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

I welcome the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, to the House and thank her most sincerely for taking the Bill this evening. As the Minister can probably appreciate, this means a lot to me because it is an issue I feel strongly about.

While much online abuse targeted at teenagers, politicians and so on has been well documented in the past, in recent days focus has returned to the issue with Meath footballer Paddy O’Rourke being threatened and told, “don’t think I won’t knife you, brother” on Twitter. The Minister will agree that this is appalling abuse for any well-intentioned sportsman to endure, but it does not stop there. I remember back in January 2013 reading a headline in an evening newspaper, which stated “cyber bullies claimed lives of five teens” Five children is five too many and having a legislative vacuum in this area is nothing short of a failure on the part of legislators.

So many people have contacted me about their own specific experiences online, for instance teenagers telling me they have self-harmed as a result of online abuse, or college students telling me about the vitriolic posts directed at them because they are student leaders. I have had people with disabilities itemise the horrendous abuse they sustain continually because of their conditions. A grown adult contacted me recently who had made a mistake and was subject to a very public campaign of ridicule.

While much is great about our online world, and most people engage in it very positively, others' experiences tell me there is an element of our online community which wants to drag people into a bottomless pit of negativity, smother them with abusive and threatening messages and keep them in their sewer.

Technology is advancing at such an alarming rate that, as a Facebook and Twitter user, I am obsolete in terms of my tools of social media engagement. I first became aware of all the other apps on the market last year following a survey I carried out with Deputy Derek Nolan in schools in County Galway. This was my first experience of the ills of online interaction and, quite frankly, the results were frightening. Up to 70% of County Galway students have been or know someone who has been bullied online; a further 85% said cyberbullying is a major issue for young people; 22% admitted to having been subject to online bullying; and up to 50% know someone who has been cyberbullied. A majority of 80% did not think that enough was being done to tackle this issue.

As an Oireachtas Member, I felt an onus to do something about these statistics because they are a hell of a lot more than just statistics. It is very much real life. I started by contacting social media companies and calling on them to show some corporate social responsibility. I feel they have shirked their legal and moral responsibilities completely when it comes to providing a duty of care to their users. While I accept that the onus is on social media users not to behave in an abusive manner, we need to expect more of these multi-billion euro companies and ensure that we have uniform application of the very same standards demanded of our print and broadcast media.

I wrote toAsk.fm, a website well known in this country for plausibly all the wrong reasons, asking them to advertise anti-bullying and suicide prevention numbers on their website for free so children in need would have ready access to supports. They have failed, refused or neglected to do so thus far. I wrote to Twitter and Facebook as a result of the inordinate number of messages I received from people who have been subjected to online abuse and I asked them how many complaints they have received over the past year; the average length of time it takes to investigate a complaint; and how many complaints they have referred to the Garda authorities. To date they have either failed, refused or neglected to provide me with this information. Social media companies have demonstrated to me that they will not step up to the plate and, despite the favourable tax rate they enjoy in Ireland, they clearly think they are entitled to cherry pick which laws they want to abide by.

The reality of the situation is that adults and children alike the length and breadth of this country have been exposed to sustained and sometimes orchestrated campaigns of abuse online. Their mental health and well-being suffer and they have no recourse. All of this has been allowed fester as a consequence of the lack of clear legislation in this area. That is why I am particularly pleased to put this legislation before the House this evening. I strongly felt that based on the outcome of my survey and the victims of cyber abuse who contacted me doing nothing was not an option. We need to put down a marker. I began with a blank canvas; this Bill is very much a starting point. It is up to each Member of the Houses of the Oireachtas to add, amend and delete as they see fit. I am asking everyone in the Chamber to embrace and support my efforts because it is too big an issue to play political football with. It probably affects most households in the country.