Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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1543. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality his position on the proposed EU Regulation to Prevent and Combat Child Sexual Abuse, commonly referred to as “Chat Control”. [45379/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I strongly support the introduction of robust legislation at EU level to tackle online child sexual abuse and exploitation. As the prevalence of online child sexual exploitation and abuse continues to grow, the need for effective legislation and international co-operation becomes even more important.

The proposed Regulation seeks to establish a harmonised legal framework, which will set out the responsibilities for providers to assess and mitigate risks and, where necessary, to detect, report and remove such abuse on their services. The proposal builds on the Digital Services Act, which lays down horizontal rules in relation to illegal content and complements it with provisions to address the specific challenges posed by child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online.

Ireland supports the fundamental principles underlying the Commission proposal, i.e. that it should apply to all forms of online child sexual abuse, and that it should be technology-neutral, and applicable to all relevant services.

I am satisfied with the safeguards contained in the proposal in respect of privacy and data protection, particularly the necessity that detection orders be issued by a court, having considered the fundamental rights of all parties.

Negotiations on this proposal are on-going, and the current text relating to detection orders and end-to-end encryption (E2EE) services specifies that the technologies used should detect CSAM prior to its transmission in the E2EE channel.

It is also imperative that new rules are applied in a technology-neutral and future-proofed way, i.e. to all online services which can be used to facilitate child sexual abuse, and to all forms of online child sexual abuse.

Online service providers must be empowered and, where necessary, compelled to detect, remove and report such abuse on their platforms.

I support the draft Regulation’s intention to place a mandatory obligation on all service providers, rather than leave any ambiguity about the responsibilities service providers must have to address child sexual abuse and exploitation on their services.