Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 239: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he has had investigations made into the possibility of Internet blocking, blocking file-sharing sites; if legislation will be required; the person who will decide which sites should be blocked; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16421/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I should advise the Deputy that the Office for Internet Safety (OIS) is an Executive Office within the Department of Justice and has responsibility for promoting internet safety, with a particular focus on combating child abuse imagery, more commonly known as child pornography. The OIS is advised by an Internet Safety Advisory Council, comprised of key stakeholders in the statutory, industry and community sectors.

In a number of EU Member States (the UK, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands), a system of internet blocking/filtering has been introduced on a voluntary basis, whereby a "blocklist" of sites containing illegal child pornography is made available by the police or other competent authorities, and is utilised by individual Internet Service Providers to prevent access to such content. A small number of other Member States (Germany, France) have introduced or are considering the introduction of legislation requiring ISPs to block access to websites containing child pornography. It is generally acknowledged that all such internet blocking or filtering systems are not foolproof and can be circumvented in certain circumstances. However, such filtering systems are understood to be useful in preventing internet users from inadvertently encountering such illegal content.

Insofar as the Department of Justice is aware, standard internet service providers (ISPs) in Ireland do not currently implement any blocking/filtering system in respect of child pornography at present. This whole issue of such blocking/filtering is being considered further by the Office for Internet Safety with advice from the Internet Safety Advisory Council. In undertaking research to develop policy advice in this area, the Office for Internet Safety has had discussions with a variety of relevant interests in relation to issues pertinent to the consideration of the possibility or feasibility of introducing internet filtering, specifically in respect of illegal child pornography content, in Ireland.

However, I should make it clear that no decisions have been arrived at national level on this issue of internet filtering/blocking of websites containing child pornography material. Any proposals for the introduction of such a system would need, at the very least, to be submitted to the Government for consideration. Indeed it is possible that the introduction of any such system, particularly if on a mandatory basis, might require the introduction of primary legislation.