Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2026: Second Stage [Private Members]

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I will be joined by some colleagues who will take some time as well.

I produced this updated Bill in light of what we all know happened - and transpired over nine months ago - in relation to Grok images and the harmful content that was coming up online. My colleague, former Deputy Brendan Howlin, drafted Coco's Law and it was brought forward by the Government at the time. This Bill is an update on it to make provisions that we in the Labour Party feel are desperately needed. What is going on in social media companies, what has happened, and the manner in which they deal with such content is unacceptable. It still remains unacceptable on many platforms. Besides, we need to future-proof for other platforms. From day to day, we do not know what platforms are going to be available. I thank the Minister for notifying me beforehand that the Government is going to support the passing of this legislation. That is very much appreciated. This issue needs to be dealt with. The manner in which Grok was being used to undress people and the way that was being utilised were totally unacceptable. Through this legislation we are updating the Act to ensure that not just physical images, which were part of Coco's Law, but also AI-generated images, are covered by the legislation. Six years ago we did not see that far ahead. The Bill also deals with companies that facilitate the sharing, distribution and manufacturing of such images. One thing we are all going to have to deal with is that the world has changed. The pendulum as regards who has the capacity to deal with this has to move. At this moment in time, regulation of online e-commerce companies is done much in the way of self-regulation, and that is unacceptable. The pendulum has to move, whereby the laws of our land are updated to ensure that these companies meet our legislative and legal requirements and regulatory rules, rather than engaging in self-regulation and using their own form of managing their content. If they cannot do that or refuse to do it, then in that scenario we simply have to make sure they have to do it or they will be penalised. There is no point in having massive fines for these companies because they build them into their baseline. Fines can be in addition to what I propose in this Bill, which is very simple. If they continuously break this law, if they ensure that content is being distributed that is harmful and if they do not meet the regulations that will be set down as a consequence, then the executives of those companies can be held criminally liable in this State. I believe we have to go down this route. If anyone in this Chamber produced a product or service that was harming people and it could be proven to be harming people, he or she would, rightly, be prosecuted. That is why we have the CE mark across Europe. Unfortunately, I do not think we in this country can wait for European regulation because I do not believe it is going to happen quickly enough. We in this State have a responsibility to legislate for this issue. That is what we are endeavouring to do in this Bill. Where such companies behave in the manner outlined, I believe they have to be held criminally liable. We also have to ensure there is a step-change for these companies, so that they know that the idea that they can have community guidelines, standards or codes of conduct will simply not be enough any more. Instead, they will have to meet the requirements of this legislation, and do so quickly. We need to reverse the pendulum and protect our citizens. We need to ensure that these companies come into line. As Chair of the Oireachtas media committee, I heard a huge amount of evidence from various people about the harm that is being caused to young people and, in fairness, to adults due to the harmful content that is being put up online. We heard from so many young people and adults across the country who have been harmed in a serious way because these platforms get away with putting up, distributing and allowing content that is totally unacceptable, and allowing totally unacceptable tools and software to be used. Everyone here knows Gráinne Seoige, who very much went public in relation to what happened her. In fact, it is her birthday today so I wish her a happy birthday. She has come out very publicly in relation to this. It is incredible the feedback people have been giving about how they really want the Dáil to deal with this issue. We cannot wait for a number of years. It would be great if Europe dealt with this but we cannot wait for Europe. I sincerely believe and accept the honest intentions of the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, on this issue. I believe he is on the same page as me and others but he is probably coming at it slightly differently. I do not mind whether it is my legislation, the Government's legislation or a mixed bag of a whole pile of us coming together to deal with this issue, but we have to deal with it. I encourage everybody in here to do so. Before I hand over to my colleagues and split the remaining time, I want to say a little bit about the Bill. Section 1 has definitions. Section 2 safeguards against retrospective application of the amendments in the Bill to the 2020 Act. Section 3 amends the definition of "intimate image" to deal with AI issues. Section 4 inserts a new section 2A, headed "Generation of intimate images by computer-graphics" into the Act to provide that "A person who ... generates an intimate image of another person without the other person’s consent, for the purpose of distributing or publishing the image ... is guilty of an offence." This section also deals with ensuring that companies can be held criminally liable. I ask the House to support this legislation. I ask everybody to support it and to allow it to go through the Oireachtas and be the inspiration for change and to ensure that, once and for all, we take on these companies and enact proper legislation and regulation to provide that images, whether AI-generated or not, cannot be produced, manufactured – computer-generated or real – and sent across these mediums any more. If harmful content like this, or any other form of harmful content, is being distributed on these platforms, it will not just be about fines but the executives in these companies will be held criminally liable in this State.

I am pleased to say it was my predecessor in Wexford and the Ceann Comhairle's former colleague, Brendan Howlin, who, in 2020, introduced the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill, known as Coco's Law after the late Nicole "Coco" Fox, whom we fondly remember. It is imperative on us, as parliamentarians in this House, to continue the battle against the evil that pertains, in particular to protect people, principally young girls and women, from the new and disturbing form of abuse that is the technology that allows deepfakes and AI-generated intimate images to happen. They cause so much harm. The humiliation, anxiety, reputational damage and emotional trauma caused by these interfaces and this technology are not something that those of us who have not suffered that indignity can speak about. Deepfake technology has created a dangerous gap in the law, which is what the Bill is about. I am glad to hear the Government is not opposing the Bill. It is common sense that it would not oppose it because it is incumbent upon us, as parliamentarians in this Chamber, to ensure the protection of all of our citizens. This new technology creates a vacuum for those with evil in their hearts and minds and allows those who want to make sport at the expense of others to create these deepfakes. As I have said, women and girls are disproportionately targeted by image-based abuse. As the father of three daughters, I would be absolutely distraught if any of my children were subject to these deepfake images or the crazy minds of the people who see this as some sort of sport or game. It is incumbent upon us in this House to ensure we do all that is within our power. It is not often that we come to this Chamber to get involved with legislation that can make as profound a difference to people's lives as this will. We are charged with introducing this legislation and it is incumbent upon us to do so. The internet should not be allowed to be a law-free zone. We have seen this over and over again. We saw it with Grok AI, which is still available on Twitter. I do not know whether it still engages in the nefarious activity it was engaged in, much to the amusement of certain actors who owned the platform and were making profits from it. How available that was is indicative of why we must act with great urgency on this. Technology is changing apace. Legislation, particularly this legislation, must match that because too many people's lives are being affected in an extremely negative way. The freedom of expression does not include the freedom to sexually exploit, humiliate or intimidate any other person.

I commend Deputy Kelly on bringing forward this important legislation. I will talk about the broader internet culture we have seen emerge over the past number of years, which has, in many ways, normalised the sort of behaviour we are talking about today, or at least emboldened the people who engage in it. The Grok AI scandal is inseparable from the growth of the influence of these so-called manosphere characters, particularly on young men, in online spaces. There was a time when this sort of misogyny, homophobia, racism and general bigotry was consigned to fringe websites in the darkest corners of the internet. It is now very much to the fore now, however. It is being hosted on some of the biggest platforms, such as X and Tik Tok. The impact of that accessibility and the normalisation of some of these sorts of views, which algorithms are purposely pushing on young men in particular, is frightening. Nudification tools are an incarnation of the philosophy that the manosphere and those associated with it push, which is that the bodies of women and girls are there to be commodified and objectified by men. We have to reject that. We have to hold the platforms that host these tools and disseminate this philosophy liable for the damage that it causes. We also have to address the elephant in the room, which is the increasing prevalence of violent pornography and children's exposure to it. There are real world impacts to this. Last year, the former Garda Commissioner said that extreme pornography was radicalising young men and that it was normalising sexual violence against women. This type of content is readily available on the internet with virtually no barriers. It is often pushed on young men through algorithms. Earlier this year, I attended a briefing from CyberSafeKids that covered research by the Sexual Exploitation Research and Policy Institute, SERP. It really brought home to me the impact that exposure to extreme and violent pornography is having on young men and on children's perception of what is normal and acceptable in sexual behaviour. Teenage boys have told SERP researchers that it is expected of them that they would slap and choke women in sexual encounters, that they would chase them, be aggressive and have anal sex, and that they would be with as many women as possible. This goes way beyond young boys being influenced into wanting certain things from sex. They are being told that they should expect these things, demand them and take them. Conversely, young girls told researchers that it is expected of them to be submissive, to do what the man says or what he likes, to be kinky, to be choked or slapped and to make pleasure noises. I could go on. These sorts of attitudes among young people are a product of the internet culture that has been allowed to fester and become normalised for far too long, aided and abetted by the world's largest tech companies, most of which have their European headquarters in Ireland. The only way we are going to get to the heart of addressing this issue is if the companies are brought into line. They have to be held accountable for disseminating harmful content. Deputy Kelly's Bill will help us to do that. I commend the work of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and Women's Aid in particular in highlighting digital sexual abuse as a major and growing problem. I am proud to be a member of the Oireachtas all-party group on sexual violence as we work towards finding legal, regulatory and educational solutions to the scourge of deepfakes, cyberflashing and abusive pornographic content and their direct links to physical sexual violence against women. I look forward to continuing to work with Deputy Kelly and with my colleagues across the House to eradicate these harmful issues.

I thank Deputy Kelly for bringing forward this important and significant Bill. I will also take the opportunity to recognise the work of the former Deputy, Brendan Howlin, in this area. This Private Member's Bill seeks to amend the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020 and is one of a number of similar Bills before these Houses. Before I turn to the legislation, I will acknowledge the context in which it arises. Deputies will recall the controversy at the beginning of this year when an editing feature powered by Grok AI was used at scale to create harmful and illegal content, particularly through the nudification of people. I will be very clear that producing non-consensual intimate images is a reprehensible act that violates a person's sense of bodily autonomy. Evidence also suggests that non-consensual intimate imagery disproportionately targets women and children, reinforcing existing patterns of sexual harassment and gender-based abuse. I am pleased that, on Tuesday, the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, secured the agreement of the Government not to oppose this Private Member's Bill on the basis that its aims align with the Government's commitment to a zero-tolerance approach to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. The Minister, myself and the Government as a whole share the widespread revulsion expressed in this House at the non-consensual nudification of images, primarily of women and children. As has been set out, the Bill seeks to amend the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act by extending its provisions to encompass images generated or modified by computer graphics. In this context, the Bill amends the definition of "intimate image" provided for in the Act. It also creates new offences: generating an intimate image by computer graphics without consent for the purpose of publication or distribution, and causing the generation of such an image. The Bill also contains a rebuttal presumption in respect of the generation of intimate images via social media software such that such images shall be presumed to be generated for the purpose of publication. The Attorney General's office has advised that the definition of "intimate image" in the 2020 Act is sufficiently broad to capture images created or altered by AI tools, rendering an amendment in this regard unnecessary. It appears that the legislation specifically targets the creation of AI-generated intimate images made with the use of tools available on a social media service. The Attorney General's office has observed that criminal offence provisions containing rebuttal presumptions require very careful consideration and may give rise to constitutional issues. They must not unduly encroach on the presumption of innocence or any other aspect of the right to trial in due course of law guaranteed by Article 38 of the Constitution. The burden must not operate to permit the conviction of the accused owing to the failure of the accused to positively prove that some essential element of an offence was absent. At this juncture, it is important to outline our existing statutory measures in respect of intimate image abuse. The Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act creates a serious offence of distribution or publication of an intimate image without consent with the intent to cause harm to the victim. This offence attracts a maximum penalty of up to seven years' imprisonment. It is also an offence to threaten to distribute or publish such an image. The Act also provides for a strict liability offence with a lower penalty for engaging in the recording, distribution or publication of an intimate image without consent with no requirement to prove an intention to cause harm. The definition of "intimate image" under the Act is intentionally broad to include any visual representation of a person. Therefore, it will include an AI-generated image of a person. This will also cover intimate images that have been altered or doctored prior to their distribution or publication, what is more commonly referred to as a deepfake. I reiterate that the Attorney General has confirmed that this is indeed the case. The Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998 is also important in this context. It is framed so that no distinction can be made between AI-generated material and other sexual abuse material. It is a criminal offence to generate a sexual image of a child, whether or not Al tools are used to do so. This encompasses images showing a child, whether an actual child or one created by Al, engaging in sexually explicit activity or showing their genitals or anal region for a sexual purpose. The production and distribution of child sexual abuse material attracts a sentence of up to 14 years' imprisonment. I would also like to draw the House’s attention to recent developments at EU level. The European Commission’s digital simplification omnibus package includes targeted amendments to the Artificial Intelligence Act. The law bans Al systems that generate child sexual abuse material or create images, videos and audio depicting an identifiable person’s intimate parts, or sexually explicit activities, without their consent. Providers will not be allowed to place these systems on the EU market, unless they come with adequate technical safeguards to prevent the creation of such material. The prohibition also applies to employers using them for this purpose. Ireland, alongside fellow member states, was a strong and determined advocate for the introduction of this new prohibited Al practice. The Regulation of Al Act 2026 is domestic legislation which has recently been enacted. It gives legal effect to national implementation measures, establishing a regulatory framework to meet our national obligations under the Al Act. This includes the designation and empowerment of national competent authorities to regulate prohibited Al practices. In tandem with this, preparations are ongoing in my Department for the transposition of directive EU 2024/1385 on combating violence against women, which will come into force in June 2027. This landmark legislation will strengthen protections for victims, including in relation to technology-facilitated forms of abuse, and support a more consistent approach to preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence across the European Union. Of particular relevance to today’s debate, the directive includes a provision to criminalise the production of a deepfake intimate image and the subsequent distribution of the deepfake intimate image in question. I would like to assure Deputies that work is under way in respect of legislative reforms to ensure the full and complete transposition of the directive in this regard. I would also like to take this opportunity to highlight the further work being done in my Department and across Government to tackle the scourge of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. This is being co-ordinated by Cuan, which is overseeing implementation of the Government’s Zero Tolerance strategy, in this, its final year. That commitment is being matched by sustained investment. Reflecting our unwavering commitment to zero tolerance of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence in society, we have secured increased funding of €5.3 million in last month’s budget. This brings the total allocation to an unprecedented €84 million to support Cuan and services working to combat domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. This is in addition to funding provided by Departments and agencies directly to deliver actions and initiatives under the Zero Tolerance strategy. As Members know, Cuan is responsible for monitoring and tracking of implementation of the Zero Tolerance: Third National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence 2022-2026. Cuan has developed a bespoke monitoring tool which ensures increased efficiency and transparency to implementation. We have seen expansion of emergency accommodation capacity and strengthening of the pipeline for further refuge and safe-home expansion. Recent progress reports highlight continued significant progress. While protecting victims is essential, lasting change also depends on prevention, education and shaping safer cultures across society. Reform of the social, personal and health education, SPHE, curriculum is empowering students to have the skills and confidence to nurture healthy relationships. Cuan continues to lead the Consent Ed project which is a sexual violence prevention resource for young people that complements the SPHE curriculum. A total of 1,258 educators have been trained, with over 457 schools and organisations directly engaged in the project. There has also been expansion of services for children and young people experiencing domestic or sexual violence, with €17 million in funding distributed to 60 services supporting children. Protecting children and young people from harm, both online and offline, remains a central priority. Over the past months, we have continued to advance a range of legislative measures designed to strengthen protections for victims and survivors and support a more effective justice system. In July, Valerie’s Law and Jennie’s Law were enacted, enhancing protections for children affected by serious family violence and increasing transparency in relation to domestic violence convictions. Reforms to the disclosure of counselling notes and other sensitive records will better protect victims’ privacy while safeguarding the interests of justice. The introduction of new offences targeting the exploitative practice of sex for rent further demonstrates our commitment to protecting vulnerable people from coercion and abuse. Taken together, these reforms represent significant progress in strengthening protections for victims and survivors. Work is also continuing on legislation that will strengthen the law on consent in sexual offences, including how belief in consent is assessed in rape and sexual assault cases. We have also taken steps to criminalise extreme pornographic material. Such material can distort perceptions of intimate relationships, interfere with healthy sexual development and reinforce misogynistic attitudes that our society has worked long and hard to discard. For this reason, in July, the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, secured Government approval to introduce new offences criminalising the production, distribution and possession of extreme and violent pornography, reflecting growing concern about its harmful impact, particularly on young people. In closing, I commend Deputy Kelly and all the speakers in the House so far today for the determination we share to eradicate domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, which is a blight on our society. I want to reiterate the Government’s zero-tolerance approach to this unacceptable behaviour. This is a challenge that requires sustained commitment across Government and society, and one to which we remain fully committed.

I thank Deputy Kelly and Labour for bringing this Bill to Second Stage today. As the Dáil will recall, we in Sinn Féin brought our own amendment to Coco's Law to Second Stage in February on International Safer Internet Day, so this is a subject we all care about deeply. As the Sinn Féin spokesperson on violence against women and girls, I note that we have so much to fix, and this is one very important measure, an addition to Coco's Law. I want to also acknowledge being a member of the all-party group on sexual violence along with Deputy Ahern. What we hear there is extremely disturbing, and I hear a lot. I have been a psychiatric nurse for most of my life. I have heard extreme things but we come away quite stunned by what we hear in the all-party group. I do not want to use the word "damaged" but when we hear what is going on worldwide and in our own local communities and in our own nation it is very disturbing. We have so much work to do to catch up, and we seem to catch up all the time. The Bill I sponsored last February successfully passed to Committee Stage, where it awaits further scrutiny by the justice committee of which my colleague, Deputy Carthy, is Chair. Our Bill differs somewhat from Labour's Bill, and a third version is coming through the Seanad, sponsored by an Seanadóir Eileen Flynn. Everybody knows this is crucial. Sinn Féin welcomes and will support Deputy Kelly's Bill. It is important that different perspectives on how to solve the problem of AI nudification deepfakes are carefully scrutinised in order to construct the most comprehensive legislation possible. Many of my fellow Deputies will have an posted photos of their kids or grandkids on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram or the horrific X. What many people do not realise, though, is that nudification apps such as the trillionaire's Elon Musk's Grok can be used to create sexualised images from these normal photos and are often sold on the dark web as child sex abuse material. When a child's image is used in this way, that child is not only victimised but can be traumatised for life. UNICEF shared a report earlier this year stating that at least 1.2 million children across 11 countries have had their images turned into sexually explicit deepfakes in the past year alone. In some countries, that is about one in every 25 children, roughly one child in every classroom. Nudification apps are also used to terrorise women. Women experience the internet differently from men, from cyberbullying and harassment to co-ordinated attacks meant to silence women. The digital world can be especially harsh for us, particularly for those who speak, advocate or simply express opinions online. Here on our island, women standing for recent elections were bullied with sexualised AI deepfakes designed to damage their reputations and self-esteem. The perpetrators took control over the representations of the victim's identities. Deepfakes, though untrue, still communicate something about a person's body, behaviour or character. They still shape how others see them. Part of the dark motivation is exertion of power over a woman to shame her, to subjugate her and to silence her. One MLA said that all the messages she had received in the wake of being deepfaked during a 2022 Assembly election "were just really vitriolic". She said, "Those messages were from people who hate women." She added, "I’d like to think I have a right for my life not to be ruined." The core issue is the violation of privacy and dignity of women and children by creating sexualised depictions of people who cannot and did not consent. The sheer volume shows that this was not an isolated misuse by a few Grok users. An Garda Síochána confirmed in the spring of this year that it was investigating 200 reports of illegal images from Grok. Presumably, these all affect or involve Irish people. When technology enables non-consensual harm, the burden should not fall on victims to fight back alone. Stronger safeguards, clearer laws and responsible AI design are not optional. Rather, they are urgent needs to preserve social cohesion. The rise of misogyny and sexual assaults is deeply concerning. The warping of minds, especially our young, is abhorrent. We as leaders must be vigilant, firm and proactive in protecting parenting and educating our young people. The technology giants' only concern is profit - we know that - and their moral compasses are absent. Ultimately, these mega corporations must be held to account. The three Bills progressing through the Dáil and Seanad must be further examined on Committee Stage to ensure that we pass the most robust legislation - again, we seem to be catching up - that can stand up to the task at hand and to the task going forward. I wish to remember Nicole "Coco" Fox and her mam's fight to get this law initially into the legislation after her tragic death from harassment and cyberbullying in 2018.

I thank Deputy Kelly for introducing this legislation. We are very glad in the Social Democrats to support it for a variety of reasons. I will begin by thinking about the women and others who are most likely to be impacted by these gross injustices and gross actions that are being facilitated by the tech companies. We can think about the woman whose photograph has been taken and manipulated, for example, a woman who innocently puts a photograph of herself on social media for her friends and family and discovers that somebody - some creep - has used it to manufacture a sexual image, or a young girl who finds that an image bearing her face is being passed around her school or classroom. These are all the realities. The Garda is investigating over 200 images by Grok as we speak. It is also by X and companies owned by Elon Musk and others, but we know it is the most prominent. Imagine having to walk to work or into school wondering who has seen it, wondering if your family has seen it or your classmates, or wondering if your teachers know or if you might get called out by a principal. That is debilitating in a way that I cannot even imagine. That image may be fake, but the violation is absolutely real, and the responsibility lies equally with the creepy man who has generated that image and the company that has given the tools that enable him to do it. Think about that reality. The Minister of State referenced in his speech the context in which this Bill and the other two Bills currently in the system were brought forward. It is quite literally because tech companies - one particular one - have allowed a tool by which an image of a woman or child can be generated into a sexual-based image that is used to undermine, push that woman down or embarrass her because someone does not like the powerful words she is probably saying. The Garda is investigating. Irony of ironies, we had a scenario a couple of weeks ago where despite the fact that 200 images generated by Grok were being investigated by the Garda, our own Minister for justice took to X - that same company - to admonish the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre for a campaign that he felt was not approved by the Government. That is a sick, dystopian reality. Whatever differences we may have on policy, legislation and the allocation on budgets, that particular difference is personal because that was a vile act. That company should never be used by anybody within any of our Departments, but a justice Minister using it to admonish the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre is a step too far. The Minister and the wider Government need to reflect upon that because it overstepped beyond belief. We need legislation by which we can take on these tech companies. Deputy Kelly's legislation brings us that opportunity. There is no reason to sit on it in the same way that we have with Deputy Devine's legislation. We need to act with urgency. We need to act quicker because this technology is evolving far faster than the legislative process within this House. We owe tech companies nothing to extent that they can allow tools by which sexual images of women and young girls are being used as a means of destroying their lives, but that is the reality that we have had in the past year. Can we imagine what that technology will look like next year? Can we imagine what that technology will look in six months' time? We are heading very quickly into a very dystopian world in which these creeps on X or other platforms can quite literally take a picture of a woman or young girl and turn it into a sexual abuse image. I understand that there may be legislation that we have already have, but it is getting out of date very quickly. These companies need to feel the full force of the law. They headquarter themselves here for a very specific reason - they benefit from our taxes - but that does not give them any justification or restrain us from going after any creep who enables a tool of this nature to be used against women or young girls in this country. That should not even be something that we have to sit on. We should have been arresting people who provided those tools and arresting those who manipulated the images. There is no space for argument here. The Departments that are still using that platform need to reflect upon what that says about us. I thought that the Minister of State's words were quite strong in the beginning and understanding the context in which it was made. He can understand the perverse reflection of that when our own Minister for justice uses that same platform to admonish the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and Cuan.

I thank my colleague, Deputy Kelly, for introducing this important Bill. I am struck because there was so much shock, horror and disgust at the start of this year when we saw what Grok was capable of online and the appalling commodification and exploitation of women and young girls in particular. There was such a sense in January that action would be taken. There was a lot of fighting talk, particularly from the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, at the time and there were expressions of revulsion, yet we are into the 11th month of the year and we have seen no progress. We hear in the response of the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, today that the offence we believe needs to be put on the Statute Book is already covered under the 2020 Act. To be frank, that is not good enough. The public feels very strongly that our legislation is not strong enough in this space. Deputy Kelly spoke about the huge work that our former colleague, Brendan Howlin, did to introduce Coco's Law. The important thing is that we need to be regulating for things that we cannot even begin to imagine will happen online in terms of the tools that are going to be developed. That might seem a bit counterintuitive in some ways, but that is the nature of the AI world that we are now inhabiting. Unfortunately, the Government has been behind the curve in this space and in recognising the power of AI and what it can unleash online. When we look back to January this year, the Grok experience revealed and exposed just how powerless nation states are, or have allowed themselves to be, particularly here in Ireland. To a certain extent, the AI horse has bolted and we are gasping to catch up, but it is not too late. I was struck when I asked the Minister, Deputy McEntee, about the EU digital omnibus package a number of weeks ago. She talked about the progress that it was going to be making regarding the regulation of AI. However, that package is undermining some of the existing AI protections that are in place by watering down some of the "red tape" as some people like to call it but what we here on the left would call very necessary protections. We need to hear a very clear message from the Government as to how it is going to regulate the major technological platforms, many of which are headquartered and have their Europe, Middle East and Africa, EMEA, headquarters here in Ireland and are part of massive projects developing artificial intelligence. I am struck by the world we live in now. We live in times when the world is literally changing around us and we do not know where we are going to end up. However, to borrow from Gramsci, the old is dying and the new has not yet been born. That is the attitude we need to apply to our legislation. Our legislation cannot foresee the types of products that are going to be developed but it can at the very least set down basic thresholds for decency, safety and child protection in the online space. That is the very clear ask in this Bill that Deputy Kelly has introduced. It is also important to say that there is a broader issue regarding the impact of AI on our society. Thankfully, there has been a growing awareness and recognition over the past year of the power of AI and its very positive potential, particularly in the health space, but also of the catastrophic impact it could have and is perhaps having on our democracy, on our security and on consumers. The reality is that because so many of the EU's digital imports come from the US, we are beholden to a very small number of very big actors. Power is concentrated in the hands of a very small number of people and there has not been political willingness to stand up and say what protections we need for our citizens or our people. This Bill obviously speaks very specifically to the issues of protecting people online, particularly women, but also men, of course. However, there is the wider issue here that we need to get our act together, both here in Ireland and, with the Presidency, at EU level, to show leadership in how we regulate AI and to stop being on the back foot the whole time. We need to get ahead of what may be to come by setting down very basic thresholds of decency, safety and security so that whatever technology is developed, Ireland will be ready. The big thing is that we are in a position where technology can be turned off on a whim because of where it is owned, and that leaves us very vulnerable. We saw what happened with the supermarkets during the week, but there is also the critical issue of how this technology is deployed to do harm in society. I urge the Minister to support this Bill and to crack on with the work Deputy Kelly has been doing, because we need this legislation in place. However, we need a lot more legislation and we need true leadership from the Government, such that it is no longer just about the fighting talk but actually about walking the walk and making sure we have real legislative protections in place for people across this country.

I have been listening to the many thoughtful contributions made today. I want to begin by reiterating that the Government as a whole, including the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, and me, are absolutely committed to tackling the scourge of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. It is disappointing that some of the contributions would almost imply that we are not. Sometimes I find that difficult to take from this side of the House because we are absolutely committed. We are not opposing the Bill. As a former Minister for whom I have tremendous respect, Deputy Kelly fully understands the importance of the Attorney General's advice or the advice that goes to the Government. I believe nobody sits in this place who has an issue with what we are trying to do here. It was regrettable, unfortunately, for a Deputy to have a cheap shot at a Minister for what went up in a post, in the context of what I believe should be a totally united front in our contributions and our work. It is in this context that Ireland pressed at EU level for amendments to the European Union's AI Act to prohibit the despicable practice of generating non-consensual intimate images and child sexual abuse material. At domestic level, the Government is in the process of ensuring the full transposition of the violence against women directive, including the criminalisation of producing and distributing deepfake imagery. This complements our comprehensive domestic legislation on intimate image abuse material and child sexual abuse material. The development of the upcoming fourth national strategy will build on the foundations established through the zero tolerance strategy. It will consolidate the progress achieved through partnership across government, agencies, service providers, advocacy organisations and communities. Prevention and early intervention to address the root causes of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence will be key priorities of that strategy. As we look forward to the fourth national strategy, we must continue to challenge the attitudes, the myths and the misogyny that underpin the violence, while also ensuring that our response remains evidence-based and, I hope, united. Every person deserves to live free from violence. Every person deserves to live free from fear. Every person deserves to live free from abuse. That ambition, I believe, must continue to guide every single person, in government and opposition, Deputies and Senators, right across the Oireachtas.

I thank everybody for making their contributions. As the Deputies outlined, a number of parties and individuals, including my colleague, have also introduced legislation, and I want to commend them all. I am not particularly concerned about whether we address the matter through my legislation or combined legislation. I do not believe any of us are in that space. However, my real concern is the urgency. We need to deal with this in an urgent way. I am a parent of two teenagers. I see what is going on. We cannot sustain this. We need to deal with these companies. We need to make them criminally liable. That is my big issue. Fines are a waste of bloody time, an absolute waste of time. The companies' share prices go up. The bigger the fine, the bigger the increase in the share price, because it means that their algorithms are working. Ultimately, I would love to see what I propose done at EU level. Unfortunately, I just do not believe it is going to happen. I have been reading a lot about it. I have dealt with it through our committee, obviously, and I cannot see it happening as quickly as is required. We have a duty to lead. We have all these companies in our country, not far from here actually, but we cannot sustain allowing dangerous activity online to continue, in this area in particular but also in others. What is happening is not sustainable for us because it creates other issues downstream across society. Those issues are going to multiply as generations move on and other generations come through. We are also seeing an increase in the number of different platforms, not just the ones we all know about – such as TikTok, which is the platform of choice for many young people – but also newer platforms that many of us have not even heard of or, in my case, do not understand. I am hearing about different ones every month. We need to future-proof in this regard. Ultimately, we need to address the definitions of what should be illegal, of images, of videos and of content. We also need to address the whole ethos of these online platforms, these e-commerce companies. They are e-commerce companies and they make zillions. It is all about money and it is all about the algorithm. The algorithm is their intellectual property. We have to deal with continuous scrolling. On the whole issue of algorithm sign-up, it should not be a matter of opting in. Algorithms should actually be banned. There can be other ways of ensuring you get the content you want through these systems. I accept that once the definitions and rules are in place, nothing will be perfect and there will have to be proportionality. However, if the regulations that would give effect to these changes we bring in through legislation continue to be completely and utterly ignored and if harm continues to be caused, those responsible need to be put in jail. It is as simple as that. If I produced a health product that harmed people, I would end up in jail. If I produced a service and it harmed people, I would end up in jail. If you are producing something online and it is harming people consistently, you should end up in jail. That is the reality. That is where we all need to go. It is the only way we will ever get to clean this up. I am sorry; I am not in favour of the whole issue of bans for under-16s, under-15s, under-18s or whatever, because simply speaking, from a technology point of view, I just do not think they work. There are also counter issues with that whereby people, particularly young people, need to express themselves on certain issues. I accept the bona fides of people who believe in that. I understand why they believe in it. We are just coming at it from a different angle saying the same thing. If we did everything that I just outlined there as part of my legislation, as well as others, we would go a lot further in dealing with this issue and would be leaders in Europe. We would be very quickly seen as leaders in Europe and should be brave enough to take this on because somebody has to. We have the scale, the capacity and the legislative prowess to go and do it and ensure that it is done. Others would take it on afterwards as they see how it works for us. Ultimately, if we legislate like this in our country, it means that if any of these executives do not adhere to our laws and regulations and are going to be prosecuted, and if they land in a plane anywhere in the EU, they can be prosecuted in this jurisdiction. That is the way we need to think about it because, ultimately, our first duty in this Chamber is to uphold the Constitution and legislate for our people and protect them. That is what we need to do and we need to do it with urgency. I thank Members for their contributions. I also thank the Government and Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, in particular, for taking this Bill today and ensuring its passage through the Houses.