John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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86. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality her plans to introduce stalking legislation to cover traditional, online and digital stalking in their direct and indirect forms; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17038/16]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Section 10 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 provides that any person who, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, by any means including by use of the telephone, harasses another by persistently following, watching, pestering, besetting or communicating with him or her, is guilty of an offence. Harassment is deemed to occur where a person seriously interferes with the other's peace and privacy or causes alarm, distress or harm to the other. Section 10(3) also provides for orders to be made by the court to prevent communication by any means with the victim or to approach within any distance specified by the court of the place of residence or employment of the victim. Such an order can be made even in circumstances where the accused person is not convicted of the offence if the court is satisfied, having regard to the evidence, that it is in the interests of justice.

I would also add that the Law Reform Commission (LRC) is currently carrying out a project on Cybercrime affecting personal safety, privacy and reputation, including cyberbullying.In November 2014 the LRC published an Issues Paper and sought the views of interested parties on the key issues it had identified. In April 2015 it held a seminar to discuss these issues. It is hoped that the LRC Report will be published in the coming months and its recommendations, including any proposals in relation to legislation, will then be considered.