Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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136. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the position regarding the powers An Garda Síochána has in relation to dealing with illicit materials online; the links between An Garda Síochána and the major technology companies based in Ireland and their obligations to report illegal content; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34787/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I am committed to playing a leading role in the fight against online child sexual abuse material, particularly as Ireland is a hub for the tech industry and the European headquarters of most of the largest online service providers.

In February of last year, the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act (otherwise known as Coco's Law), came into force in Ireland. This law for the first time criminalises the sharing of intimate images without consent, regardless of the motivation for doing so. People convicted of this offence can face penalties of an unlimited fine and/or up to 7 years imprisonment.

To make it easier for victims to report and have this illegal content removed, my Department, along with An Garda Síochána, established a partnership with Hotline.ie to create an online reporting facility for intimate images shared without consent. This enables victims of intimate image abuse (IIA) to report it to Hotline.ie and request the assistance of Hotline.ie who will engage with the relevant service provider to seek the removal of the illegal content reported. At the same time, if a victim requests, Hotline.ie will pass all relevant information to the Gardaí so that a thorough criminal investigation can be conducted with a view to prosecuting offenders. It is of course open to a victim to report directly to An Garda Síochána if they choose.

While there is presently no specific legislation in this jurisdiction compelling service providers to report illicit content, I am informed by the Garda authorities that many do so voluntarily, particularly service providers with headquarters in the United States of America who report via the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) based in Washington. However, there are also certain service providers who do not engage with and do not respond to law enforcement requests.

The Deputy may also be aware of the European Commission’s new proposal, published last month, on tackling child sexual abuse online. This draft Regulation sets out comprehensive new requirements on online companies to assess and mitigate the extent to which their platforms are being misused for the purposes of child sexual abuse, both in terms of hosting material and the exploitation by abusers of their services for the purposes of grooming children. The Regulation will introduce provisions requiring companies to detect and report such material. It will also create a new EU Centre to coordinate the efforts of law enforcement agencies across the Union in tackling online child sexual abuse. I expressed my strong support for this new proposal to the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, at the recent WeProtect Global Alliance summit on child sexual abuse in Brussels.

An Garda Síochána works in close cooperation with other international police services and agencies in the prevention and detection of illegal content online, where those activities identify suspects based in Ireland. Additionally, An Garda Síochána are working with Internet Service Providers to examine and put in place operational URL blocking initiatives. Once operational, it is envisioned that these initiatives will deter potential offenders from accessing child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

As the Deputy maybe aware, Ireland ratified the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (known as the "Lanzarote Convention") on 21 December 2020. The Convention entered into force in relation to Ireland on 1 April 2021. Part 2 of the Criminal Justice (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 which strengthens the law relating to the sexual exploitation of children, including child pornography, and criminalises the use of information and communication technology to facilitate such exploitation, ensures the State’s full compliance with criminal law provisions in the Convention.

In the context of the Deputy’s question, it is important to acknowledge the work of my colleague, Minister Catherine Martin, T.D., who has recently published and initiated in Seanad Éireann, the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill. The Bill will establish a Media Commission to replace the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and provide for the appointment of an Online Safety Commissioner who will oversee the establishment of a regulatory framework for online safety.

Under the framework, the Online Safety Commissioner will devise online safety codes requiring certain designated online services to operate appropriate systems and processes to minimise the availability of some of the most serious forms of harmful online content. Such content will include certain criminal material, including a number of relevant offences from the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017, Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020 and the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act 1997. It has also been agreed between my Department and Minister Martin's Department that the Media Commission will have a role in respect of certain regulatory functions arising from the EU Terrorist Content Online Regulation.