Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I welcome yesterday's announcement from the European Council that agreement has been reached on a Council position on a regulation to prevent and combat child sexual abuse. The European Parliament established its position in late 2023. There will be obligations on digital companies to prevent the dissemination of child sexual abuse material and the solicitation of children. National authorities will have the power to oblige companies to remove and block access to content or, in the case of search engines, to delist search results around child sexual abuse material. There is also a new EU agency coming, the EU centre on child sexual abuse, which will support member states and online providers in implementing the law.

Last week, I attended a plenary meeting of the Lanzarote committee, which is responsible for the implementation of the Lanzarote convention, which obliges signatory states to criminalise all forms of child sexual abuse. All of the developments taking place there are welcome but there were two things from last week's meeting that particularly struck me. One is the threat posed by AI, particularly the generation of child sexual abuse materials and imagery using artificial intelligence. I have made a point, which many agree with, which is that the very exposure of children, whether willing or otherwise, to any kind of pornography is, in itself, a form of child sexual abuse. We have to realise that child sexual abuse online is tied to the problem of adult pornography in general. Pornography is a public health issue. It is increasingly linked to addiction, mental health problems and violence against women.

Can we have a debate about this new regulation and the further efforts needed to combat any kind of exploitation or sexual abuse of children, particularly online? We should also look at what we need to do as a country, what is being done and what more needs to be done by Coimisiún na Meán and others to ensure that children do not have access to any kind of pornographic material, because it is damaging them. I believe that stricter rules on age verification are vital. We are not there yet. There is more that needs to be said and more that needs to be done, although all of the things I have mentioned are, of course, very welcome.