Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I am pleased to support the Bill proposed by my colleague, Senator Lorraine Higgins. I commend the Senator on the work she has done on the legislation, the eloquent speech she made in proposing it and her bravery in raising this issue and speaking publicly about her personal experience. This, too, needs to be acknowledged because it can be difficult for public representatives and politicians to speak publicly about the online abuse with which all of us are familiar.

Abuse is not confined to cyberspace. I recall as a student union officer in the late 1980s being subjected to particularly vicious hate mail for the student union's stance in favour of freedom of information and free speech concerning the right of women to access information about crisis pregnancy services, including abortion. While this hate mail was of the snail mail variety, as a young person I found it extremely hurtful and difficult to deal with.

What we have seen in more recent years has been a much more pernicious type of abuse taking place, with abusive attacks being made on young people online. The difference in such cases is that it is difficult to escape online abuse because it arrives on one's telephone or computer screen, thereby invading the home space, especially of teenagers. I have spoken to friends who are parents of teenagers and they are particularly aware of the nasty effects these attacks can have on a child's self-esteem.

Senator Higgins spoke of appalling examples of the effects of online bullying and the awful teenage suicides we have seen. This type of bullying is not confined to young people, nor is it something of which only young people are guilty. Vicious attacks and bullying are traded among adults on Twitter and other social media on which people can express themselves anonymously.

This is clearly a difficult area on which to legislate. It goes without saying that it gives rise to freedom of expression and free speech concerns, on which Senator Higgins also spoke eloquently. As with most Private Members' Bills, this Bill is a starting point and is not perfect. It is incumbent on all of us, therefore, to examine how we can improve it. There are undoubtedly other issues that need to be addressed in a more comprehensive Bill. Senator Higgins touched on a number of these, including the duty of Internet service providers, ISPs, to be more proactive in removing material from the Internet. Speaking to other practising colleagues at the Bar who have dealt with this issue, it is clear that it is extremely difficult to obtain a civil remedy for clients who have been faced with the most appalling false allegations online. Extraterritoriality is another issue as most ISPs are located outside the jurisdiction. Legislation may also be required to address this issue.

The ancillary orders provided for in section 5 have a precedent in the harassment provisions of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act. There are issues beyond criminal matters which must be addressed and the Bill seeks to do so. These issues need to be re-examined.

Cybercrime in the more general sense must also be addressed because much of our current legislation was not drafted with cybercrime in mind. For this reason, our legislation needs to be improved, not only in the areas of online bullying, which the Bill addresses, but in several other areas.

Cyberbullying has been the subject of a good deal of work and the Bill forms an important part of a series of reports and measures which has made suggestions on how to deal with the issue. The Bill deals with the sharing of harmful and malicious electronic communications. Senator Higgins has kept the offences in the summary jurisdiction of the court, which is important. This follows from and builds on some of the recommendations made by previous groups. In 2013, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources established the Internet content governance advisory group, which published a report in 2014. Its recommendations are being discussed in the relevant Departments.

The Law Reform Commission is also engaged in work in this area and is examining the issue of cybercrime as it affects personal safety, privacy and reputation. The European Commission published an issues paper in November in which it asked interested parties to address a number of questions, some of which have been addressed in the Bill before us. The paper notes that the offence of harassment currently contained in section 10 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act may not apply to certain forms of indirect cyber harassment as it does not refer specifically to this type of harassment, having been drafted prior to the prevalence of online communications.Section 10 does not address the setting up of fake profiles where harmful behaviour is directed towards a person other than the victim but concerns and harms the victim. The Law Reform Commission is examining whether section 10 should therefore be amended, and is also looking at the issue of extra-territorial jurisdiction. It is also looking at the difficulty with the requirement for "persistent" behaviour in the current offence of harassment. Even if section 10 can be used in the cyber setting, it may not amount to harassment under section 10 to post with a single upload the sort of communication referred to in section 3(2)(a) of this Bill inciting or encouraging someone to commit suicide online - an appalling abuse - even where it is seriously harmful to a person's safety or privacy. There is a question about that. The Law Reform Commission is investigating the possibility of either amending section 10 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act or creating a new offence, as this Bill aims to do. While that is a question that needs to be addressed, the Law Reform Commission has identified the flaws and gaps in our legislation currently in dealing with the sort of cyberbullying we have seen.

Another point to make is that our legislation on hate crimes more generally also requires updating. There is a recent University of Limerick report on this issue. The Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989 is our existing law, but there are areas in which it needs to be updated. The European Commission has called for that and the Law Reform Commission is also investigating this issue. The Law Reform Commission is specifically looking at the issue I have already raised on existing civil law remedies and whether they are adequate to protect against cyber harassment and safeguard privacy rights. This is the issue of the take-down order and whether ISPs can be ordered to remove defamatory or abusive content in particular.

These are some of the complex questions that will need to be addressed. As Senator Higgins has said, the Bill is a starting point in seeking to address some of them. The core of the matter is seeking to address the really harmful conduct which we have seen cause harm to individuals. It seeks to address that in a sensitive manner that is in balance with the rights to freedom of expression and free speech, which will have to be taken into account in any final draft. I hope the Government can accept the Bill on Second Stage and that we can see a consensus emerge as to how we move forward. Clearly, legislation of some sort is required to deal with new forms of bullying, as existing legislation may not be adequate. I agree with Senator Higgins that this is not just a criminal justice matter and that there is also a huge need for greater education and awareness-raising around the safe and respectful use of online and social media. We must ensure that anonymity does not give people carte blancheto be abusive.