Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The legislation with which I am dealing deals with harmful content. That is only a subset of a much wider category of problem. I draw Senators' attention to the action plan for online safety published last year. This plan deals with a much more comprehensive approach to this issue. I was then Minister for Education and Skills and appeared before the Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs. What was unique was the fact that five Ministers attended. In order to deal with the complexity of the issue, the action plan for online safety was introduced. I draw the attention of Senators to some of the measures in the plan. In particular, I draw the attention of Senator Craughwell to the work of Webwise, which has done outstanding work in equipping young people and parents with information about how they should deal with the challenges presented by being online. A single online access point was established during the past 12 months to deal with online material. New curriculum material is being developed along with yourmentalhealth.ieand the 24-7 telephone number.

I do not wish to hold up the Seanad but Government recognises that this is a much more comprehensive issue than simply harmful communications. The Department of Justice and Equality is introducing legislation that goes far beyond this in dealing with upskirting - pictures taken without consent. A review is ongoing as to whether our existing incitement to hatred legislation is adequate or whether it needs to be strengthened. There is a lot of other legislative activity to be done in this area other than the material with which I am dealing.

Of course, breaches of the criminal code must be integrated into what I am doing, just as we need to recognise Senator Craughwell's concern about the infringement of his data protection rights. They will not fall to the online safety commissioner. The Data Protection Commissioner will continue to deal with such issues. The Bill I am developing is not seeking to extend and try to resolve all issues.

I assure the House that there is no delay in introducing what I am doing. I accept many of the definitions of harmful material set out in the Senator's legislation when she deals with suicide, cyberbullying and self-harm but I need to ensure that the legislation that comes forward is robust. We need to be careful that the legislative power we give to an online safety commissioner is commensurate with the transgression, so taking down a site on the basis of a single transgression would not be the first port of call. One would take down the content that is deemed harmful. Taking down the site would be for a graver set of consistent abuse. The example cited by Senator Freeman would be such an example. Regarding one of the concerns we need to look at in drafting the final legislation, I understand that Senator Freeman's legislation does involve taking down the site, whereas what we need is legislation whereby enforcement power would be graded proportionate to the scale of the offence. Consequently, taking down the site would be a graver intervention that the online safety commissioner could apply.