Seanad debates

Tuesday, 8 December 2020

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

 

10:30 am

Photo of Fiona O'LoughlinFiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017, which will be coming before us soon. I spoke about this issue some weeks ago, and I also acknowledge the role of the Labour Party, and Deputy Howlin in particular, in tabling this legislation, which is also known as Coco's law.This Bill is hugely important for banning cyberbullying, stalking and the sharing of intimate images without consent. This measure is overdue in our legislation, particularly given the huge dump of images of Irish women that took place last month. A message should go to the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, about this. Nicole Fox Fenton was affectionately known as "Coco". We all know about her through "Coco's law" and the petition into which her mum Jackie put her life and soul after Nicole sadly passed away by suicide. That petition and the work Jackie put in was hugely important in addressing this area. We have heard recently that this law will now not be known as "Coco's law". That is wrong and the Minister should revisit that decision. I have some experience in this area because I have been working closely with Robbie and Kathy Maguire in Newbridge regarding a similar situation in which their daughter Maxine, whom I had taught in junior infants, died tragically. We had been working on "Maxine's law", which would relate to a completely different set of circumstances and legislation. I know how passionate parents can be to make sure a change is brought about in their daughter's or son's name to ensure other families do not suffer the same as them. I ask that a message go to the Minister asking her to change the name back to "Coco's law".

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