Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Ruane for tabling amendments Nos. 145 and 146 regarding the definition of cyberbullying in the Bill. The current definition in section 44, inserting section 139A into the Broadcasting Bill 2009, was arrived at through extensive consultation and engagement with the Office of the Attorney General.It refers to online content by which a person bullies or humiliates another person and subjects that definition to a risk test regarding risk to a person's life or risk of significant harm to a person's physical or mental health where the harm is reasonably foreseeable. The proposed amendments would have the effect of replacing the current definition with a narrower definition focused on repeated abusive behaviour and to subject that definition to a reasonable person test. In this regard, I believe that the content intended to be covered by the amendment is covered by the category of offence-specific content which refers in turn to the updated offence of harassment under the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020, Coco's Law, under section 45 of the Bill inserting Schedule 3 into the 2009 Act.

The category of harmful online content regarding cyberbullying is intended to be broader than the matters covered by Coco's Law but subject to the risk test. I do not believe it would be desirable to limit the definition of cyberbullying in this manner and I do not propose to accept the amendments.