Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A number of colleagues have raised the horrendous situation of the tens of thousands of images that were discovered last week. The fear and anger of our young women and, indeed, lots of our young men, and their mammies, daddies, friends and everybody in the country last week was absolutely palpable. I do not say that anecdotally from meeting somebody in the street. I have four children who do not give two hoots about what I do all day, every day. They do not get exercised about politics. I have never seen my 18-year-old daughter and 21-year-old son ever get as exercised about something as they did last Thursday. The anger that my daughter expressed put the fear of God into me because the only outcome that I could come to in my head was that she had been a victim. Having sat down with her on Thursday, hopefully and gratefully, to discover that she had not, it made me wonder that her anger was so well placed because she was so angry on behalf of her friends who she felt potentially had been victims. Even as late as yesterday and today she told me that the Twitter and Instagram debates were ongoing, and I think they will be ongoing for a while from today. She told me that she got 300 likes for a comment that she made and it made her feel incredibly proud that she was sticking up for people.

It is a tremendous pity that the Labour Party Bill has not been passed before now. I commend the party's members on the hard work that they have done on this particular campaign. I really do hope that the Government works in conjunction with Deputy Howlin in the next couple of weeks to get the legislation passed both in the Dáil and Seanad. More is the pity that the culprits of last week's leak, and I use that word lightly, will not be covered by the new Bill that we will pass, please God.

I do not say the following disrespectfully but we have all got into the habit of calling this "revenge porn" as if it were a response to something that some of our young women, or indeed some of our young men, have done. It is not revenge porn. It absolutely is vicious, violent and targeted sexual abuse of the young people of this country and probably, indeed, of the world.