Molaim mo chomrádaí, an Teachta Máire Devine, as a cuid oibre ar an mBille seo. Despite lots of rhetoric and good intentions, the fact is the Government has been far too slow to address what is now apparent as a clear gap in the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020. I welcome that the Government has indicated that it will not be opposing this Bill. I look forward to working on a cross-party basis to ensure that we deliver this legislation in a timely manner. As has been outlined Coco's Law was designed to protect people from the recording, distribution and publication of intimate images without consent. However, there is an ambiguity over whether the Act covers the creation of non-consensual intimate images generated through artificial intelligence. The current Act references images that purport to be intimate images but it does not explicitly state that generating intimate images of an adult is illegal. The Grok nudification scandal exposed this loophole that should never have been allowed to remain open. Grok, X's nudification tool as it is now being described, allowed users to upload photos or videos of real people and have their clothing digitally removed. The vast majority of the sexualised AI images produced were of women and children. This should have prompted immediate action. The Government could have brought for brought forward an immediate short and targeted amendment to close this loophole. I know there is a suggestion as to whether or not the law actually covers this. I make the point that if this was clear in law, then we would not need a minister to sit down with the companies involved. If the Minister or I were suspected of breaking the law, a Minister does not come to our house to discuss it; the appropriate powers hold us to account. We now need to ensure that we make a move. Sinn Féin is prepared to work constructively and quickly to fix this problem but we need to see a sense of urgency from Government. Sinn Féin seeks to amend Coco's Law to explicitly criminalise the generation of non-consensual intimate images and videos and to increase the maximum penalties for those convicted. It is a straightforward but, in my view, absolutely necessary step. We are asking for all TDs to support this at every stage. If technical amendments are needed and if Government points out what it believes they are, we will be quite happy to work with it on Committee Stage. What matters now is that we work with together to fix this law without delay. The legislation, of course, is only one part of the response. The other is accountability for the social media companies and platforms that enable or ignore this behaviour, and indeed profit from it. There is a sense that these platforms believe they are above the law. We saw the refusal of representatives of X to appear before the Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport. These companies have to be held accountable by Coimisiún na Meán and if Coimisiún na Meán does not have the powers to hold these companies to account, then we have to give it the powers because the full weight of the law must be brought to bear on platforms that flout their obligations. We also need to ensure that the Garda, particularly the divisional protective service units, has the personnel and the resources required to investigate and prosecute offences involving the recording, creation, distribution or the publication of non-consensual, intimate images. We have heard and we all should listen to the voices of victims and survivors about the important role that the divisional protective laws have played. We need to ensure that they are properly resourced and staffed. A review of Coco's Law in 2024 showed that between 2021 and 2023, some 100 cases were prosecuted by the DPP but in the same period, almost 1,500 victim reports were made. That shows us that there is a significant gap between reports and prosecutions. It shows that while the law has acted as a deterrent, as I believe it has, it is still not delivering adequate justice for many victims. We also know that for far too many victims and survivors, the judicial process is too slow and in many cases is actually retraumatising them. The Justice Indicators Report published by the Law Society last week makes it clear that chronic delays in our court system are denying people timely access to justice. The Minister and I know that there are many priorities across his Department and many areas of work that we need to address. However, I would contend very strongly that this is one of the areas where we can work together and actually deliver a solution fairly quickly. That is why I commend this Bill to the House. I welcome that Government is not opposing it. I assume that means we will have unanimous support here. Let us take this to Committee Stage, iron out whatever creases may be there and actually get this Bill into law as quickly as possible.

Sentiment score: 0.11