Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful to Senator Gallagher for allowing me to speak because I wish to put on the record my appreciation for the work the Minister has done in this area. The understanding and the commitment she has had in this area are reassuring and impressive. She has listed off a number of schemes that are already in place to address these issues. When I say "these issues", this is a huge area. We could spend, as the Cathaoirleach has indicated, days talking about the various aspects of violence: gender-based violence, domestic violence, sexual violence.There are so many aspects to it, and it is so pervasive and damaging, obviously to the individuals involved but also to society as a whole. The schemes that have been mentioned are very important. The changes in attitude in official Ireland in recent years are very important. In the Courts Service, for example, the provision for victims in terms of criminal proceedings are really important and much improved. An Garda Síochána has a much more solid understanding of these issues now than maybe it had in the past. The Department of Justice has also prioritised these issues. These are really important steps that we must take to address these issues.

Perhaps the most important step that we as a society can take is in terms of my own gender - men - because the reality is that while men are not the exclusive portrayers of this violence and there are men who are victims, something I do not want to diminish, in the context of some of the issues discussed today, for example, the sharing of intimate images that were dumped on the Internet last week, that is a major issue. I heard the Leader of the House this morning querying the term "revenge porn" that is used. She quite rightly said that the suggestion is that there is something to be vengeful for as opposed to it being a mere act of violence of sorts - maybe not physical violence but certainly a violation of the person whose image is involved. It is also extremely damaging in the same way as direct physical violence is. We should recognise that it is just an act of badness and damage that is akin to violence, and the term "revenge porn" perhaps puts it in a category that is not appropriate. Those images were mentioned, and given the time that I have, I do not propose to explore a very wide gamut of issues in this area.

Deputy Howlin's Bill was mentioned and I support what was said about that. This is important legislation and it is great to see Private Members' legislation taking on the import that it has with the Department. It is a recognition that Members of the Houses can propose legislation that can have a significant effect. I look forward to that Bill.

One suggestion I wanted to make and an idea I wanted to float was the fact that Deputy Howlin's Bill criminalises this activity, and rightly so. The difficulty we have is that in terms of the images that were released last week, the horse has to a certain extent bolted in respect of those matters and we generally have a propensity against retrospective legislation. One of the areas in which we can deal with this issue is at a civil level rather than a criminal level. We often talk about the criminalisation of this activity, which is appropriate, but one of the areas where we can genuinely hit people hard is in the civil sphere. It is often easier and more practicable to take cases on a civil basis. The way we could do that is to empower the person in the image with a copyright of that image. In circumstances where an intimate image has been shared in a particular way without consent and other conditions, the person in the image would assume ownership and therefore its copyright. That is important because it means that the platforms that are being used to share these images can be attacked at a civil level.

We know this works because artists whose material is shared on these platforms, be it Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or whatever, without their consent and where they have copyright can go to those platforms and tell them they must remove the image because the person does not have the right to put it up. Empowering the victim in that respect could be a very powerful way to create a tool to tackle the very platforms that are being used to share these horrible and very damaging images. That is something I certainly will speak to Deputy Howlin about, but it is something that might be appropriate for Private Members' legislation as well to create that copyright issue.

Coming back to the main point that was made, it is important to say that we must all take responsibility, particularly men, for standing up to this. Men of any generation, when an image is shared, a joke is told or a comment is passed, must take responsibility for reacting to it, calling it out for what it is, rejecting that behaviour, having difficult conversations with their friends, and saying this is not acceptable, they are not going to stand for it, and they are going to call it out. The more we do that, the much greater chance we have of tackling this kind of behaviour and stopping it. I thank the Minister for attending.