Deirdre Clune (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this matter, which is the issue of child pornography and child abuse material, and ensuring that we introduce controls in the area. This has come to the fore following Prime Minister Cameron's speech yesterday in the UK. It has been discussed previously in this House. He addressed many issues yesterday. The Minister for Justice and Equality agreed in this House to do what he can to ensure that our obligations under the directive on combatting sexual exploitation of children are implemented. I understand that he is engaging with Internet service providers so that we can get to the position where such material can be blocked.

It is a very serious issue. Every image of a child that we see in such a situation is a crime. Anybody who looks at such images is perpetrating a crime. The enormous growth of the Internet and its potential has certainly added to this. It has probably not got much attention until recently, but it was addressed by the UK Prime Minister yesterday. We need to see action on it and we await the Minister's statement as to how he proposes to proceed in that area.

The issue of obnoxious or extreme pornography and violence and simulated rape situations was also raised. I understand that such material is blocked in this jurisdiction, whereas it has not been blocked in the UK for technical reasons. Legal pornography should also be restricted. My generation would know of the likes of Playboy , adult movies and the 9 p.m. watershed on television, but such material is also on the Internet and there are no restrictions on it. It is available to children at home on their laptops, iPads and PCs. We can only begin to imagine the potential. Children are vulnerable. They need to be protected in their formative years, because pornographic images such as these can actually distort their view of a sexual relationship. It can be very difficult for them. It should not happen and we should control it.

The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources said on the radio today that this issue had not been raised with him before in this House. It has been raised with the Minister for Justice and Equality, but I do not know if it has been raised directly with Deputy Rabbitte. I know that Deputy Shatter said he would take the matter on board. We clearly need to see action to ensure that issues such as adult pornography, which should only be available for adults, are filtered so that they can be controlled. There has been criticism of filters and any tech savvy child can get around it, but it is not a defence to throw our hands up in the air. We want to try to avoid the situation where a child casually scanning different Internet sites comes across this material accidentally. We also need to educate parents who are not aware of it. They are not tech savvy like their children, unless they have high levels of skill themselves. They can be completely unaware of what their children are being exposed to.

The UK Prime Minister, in consultation with Internet service providers, is proposing a filter that would block this material permanently and if adults want to access such material, they can request that the filtering mechanism be turned off. That sounds like a very reasonable and sensible approach. He is also proposing that public WiFi be family friendly and that logos can claim that the WiFi in a particular area is family friendly.

We need to move on this issue. The growth of pornography on the Internet is continuing. It is racing ahead of all of us. Like anything, when we put something in place, we have to jump higher again. We need to engage with the service providers and ensure that they live up to their huge responsibility in this area. Ultimately, people look to the Government and legislators to raise awareness and to discuss how we can implement protection measures for our vulnerable children.

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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I thank the Senator for raising this issue.

We all accept that the web is one of the great innovations of our age. It has already brought huge benefits and has the potential to expand our knowledge in ways we could not have imagined only a few decades ago. Sadly, new innovations do not come with a guarantee against misuse. There are two distinct aspects of the Internet's evolution that concern us today and that arise from Senator Clune's contribution, the first being the fact that the web has long been used for the distribution of legal - if restricted - pornographic materials, and the second being around the entirely unacceptable practice of the web's use to circulate images of child abuse.

This latter issue has been the subject of a sustained and very substantial effort on the part of states all over the world, and with some success. For example, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, Deputy Shatter, had the opportunity recently during the Irish Presidency of the EU to raise the need for enhanced international cooperation in tackling the dissemination of child pornography. The EU and the USA have initiated a global alliance against child sexual abuse on-line and I gather that this initiative is expected to develop quickly in the coming years. Moreover, discussions on the establishment of a structured arrangement for the blocking of access to websites containing child pornography are at an advanced stage.

The arrangement that is being discussed will entail close collaboration between the Garda and Internet service providers, ISPs. It will be based on a written agreement and procedures between the gardaí and individual ISPs. Under the proposed arrangement the gardaí will identify sites and, when satisfied that the material is child pornography and therefore illegal, they will notify the ISP of the sites in question. The ISP will then act in accordance with the agreed arrangements to block access to the site or sites. The Garda will have the benefit of its links with other police forces and the international policing organisations such as Interpol and Europol in seeking out and identifying sites. The arrangements about which I have spoken are in line with the provisions of EU Directive 2011/93 on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, in particular Article 25 of that directive. Article 25 provides for measures against websites containing or disseminating child pornography. The first part of the article deals with the removal of web pages containing such material. In Ireland the hotline.ieservice already provides for the removal of illegal material. It has performed very well and has had some notable successes in fighting this scourge. The second part of Article 25 is concerned with blocking access to sites containing or disseminating child pornography. The arrangements under discussion between the gardaí and the ISPs would provide us with a mechanism that fulfils the second part of Article 25.

I want to return to an aspect of the debate on blocking or restricting access to sites that causes genuine concern to many people. There are concerns about State censorship and interference with freedom of speech if official agencies are given powers to effect these measures. These are genuine and legitimate concerns. Some see any step in this direction as a beginning, the thin end of the wedge. Where the material involves children, however, different factors apply. We must recall that, not only are they forced to participate but, by virtue of their age alone, they do not have the capacity to consent to taking part. They have no freedom to exercise free choice and because of their age, they are unable to exercise that free choice. Therefore, while protecting the general principle of free expression, we must ensure that we also protect the very basic integrity of the children involved. In my view, the safeguarding of children must be the first priority.

The British Prime Minister's remarks on what is termed "filtering" focus the debate on a slightly different matter, however, the question of controlling access by children to material that is pornographic in nature. My colleague, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, spoke about the UK plans on radio this morning. He told "Morning Ireland" he was prepared to take a look at the proposals from the UK Government and I agree that we should examine these with some urgency. The extent of the effects of widely available pornography on the development of young people is not yet fully understood, and it is entirely understandable that parents would seek means to address this. Both the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Justice, Equality and Defence have long had programmes in place to support children, young people and parents in engaging and dealing with the on-line world. After all, the world-wide web is of profound benefit in expanding our knowledge of the world, and central to the future careers of many of our young people - the last thing we want is fear of what it might hold. There is also a wide range of available tools that can be used to set content restrictions on devices. The route taken by the UK Government, however, asking Internet service providers to set a "default on" block is something new. It is unlikely to be without its problems in implementation but it may well be worth considering.

To conclude, I want to assure the Senator and the House of my own and the Government's strong commitment to the safety of children, on- and off-line, and that we will continue to consider any additional steps that can be taken in cases where children are put at risk.

Deirdre Clune (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply and I note the comments of the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Rabbitte, that he believes it is probably worthwhile looking at the issue of pornography and children's access to it, not necessarily child pornography but pornography in general that is legal but access to which should be restricted.

The Minister of State said that the extent of the effects of widely available pornography on the development of young people is not yet fully understood. Anything I have read shows that it has a distorting effect on children. I am sure it is not desirable. I hope that the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources will engage with this matter and do his utmost to ensure that the Internet service providers also engage and that we do have filtering mechanisms in place. I am not saying they will be the solution to everything and I know there will be mechanisms found to get around them but not necessarily by all children. Protection of vulnerable children should be our highest priority.