John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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2029. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if he will consider minimum sentences for those who commit child sexual abuse crimes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42211/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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The Government takes the issue of sexual exploitation of children very seriously and there is comprehensive legislation in place to deal with these offences.

The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act was enacted in 2017. This wide-ranging piece of legislation significantly enhanced the laws combatting the sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children.

Among the provisions of the 2017 Act are measures to strengthen significantly the existing criminal law in combating child exploitation and to address the use of modern communication technologies as a tool which may lead to child sexual exploitation.

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 Ireland on 1 April 2021.

Part 2 of the Criminal Justice (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 strengthens the law relating to the sexual exploitation of children, including child sexual abuse material, and criminalises the use of information and communication technology to facilitate such exploitation. These provisions ensure the State’s full compliance with criminal law provisions in that Convention.

The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2019 amended the 2017 Act to provide for specified minimum penalties for repeat sexual offenders.

This applies where a person is convicted on indictment of a sexual offence and sentenced to 5 years or more in prison. If that person commits a subsequent sexual offence within ten years of their first conviction, the court must impose a minimum jail term of not less than three quarters of the maximum term for the sexual offence in question. If the maximum term is life imprisonment, then the term imposed must be a minimum of 10 years. This can be disregarded where the court feels it would be disproportionate in all the circumstances of the case. It also does not apply to child offenders.

The Sex Offenders (Amendment) Act 2023 strengthened our already robust system for monitoring sex offenders on release from prison and provides for changes to the notification requirements for sex offenders. Other provisions include providing powers to An Garda Síochána to take fingerprints, palm-prints and photographs to confirm the identity of the person. The Act also provides for electronic tagging and a power for a court to explicitly prohibit a convicted sex offender from working with children or vulnerable people.

Under section 16 of the 2001 Act, where An Garda Síochána believe that a convicted offender poses a serious and imminent risk to the public, an application can also be made to the courts for a Sex Offender Order. A Sex Offender Order can prohibit the offender from doing anything the Court considers necessary, in order to ensure that the public is protected from serious harm. The Act also provides that a Court can impose conditions on a convicted sex offender as part of their post-release supervision, where a judge has included this as part of sentencing.

As the Deputy may be aware, in June 2025 the European Parliament adopted its position on the recast of the 2011 Child Sexual Abuse Directive. Trilogue negotiations are underway to finalise this critical legislation and regulations that will place clear, enforceable, obligations on online service providers are also being negotiated. The changes in the new recast Directive take into account the ongoing impact of technological advancement on criminality, including measures to address live streaming of child sexual abuse, the generation of synthetic child sexual abuse material (CSAM) through AI tools, and the role played by the dark web in propagating CSAM and in the creation of communities of offenders.

The Department of Justice, Home Affairs, and Migration is also actively engaged in the ongoing EU negotiations for a Regulation to prevent and combat child sexual abuse. It is of central importance to Ireland that this legislation effectively addresses the proliferation of online child sexual abuse material. This new Regulation, when agreed, will also require the establishment of a new EU Centre, which will act as a hub of expertise and coordination in Europe, giving service providers and national authorities the tools and intelligence they need to act decisively to address CSAM on their platforms.

The Lanzarote Convention recently adopted reports on legal frameworks across the Council of Europe and on child sexual abuse data collection methods; these reports will be published shortly. Positively, Ireland was highlighted on a number of occasions for its good practice in a number of areas examined by the Committee.