Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 187: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the progress to date in the registration of all mobile telephones with particular reference to the need to counter child pornography; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28592/04]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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Officials in my Department have been exploring for some time with both the industry and ComReg the matter of a register for users of all new 2G and 3G prepaid mobile phone services or some other industry scheme that would provide sufficient protection to the public. The principal aim of any such register would be to enable effective tracing of perpetrators of criminal activities using these services. The registration of prepaid mobile phone services is a complex issue and the exact nature of such a register must be given careful thought.

The consideration of the legal, technical and practical issues surrounding this proposal is continuing in consultation with all the interested parties, including the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Data Protection Commissioner. Legislation is already in place to prosecute the issue of nuisance and criminal calls, and the sending of pornographic images by mobile phones. My colleague the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is responsible for policy on the protection of children from the transmission of pornographic images by phones and other media.