Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 October 2011
429 Deputy Shane Ross asked the Minister for Justice and Equality his plans to direct Irish Internet service providers to employ means through which access to Internet sites depicting child sexual abuse is restricted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31312/11]
View answerThe internet is a worldwide phenomenon with no borders and no single organisation controlling it. There is, however, an existing self-regulatory framework for internet service providers (ISPs) in operation in Ireland which actively encourages the adoption of best practice procedures aimed at limiting the proliferation of illegal child pornography content online. Members of the public may report such material to the www.hotline.ie service of the Internet Service Providers’ Association of Ireland (ISPAI). If the material is hosted here and deemed to be illegal and in contravention of Irish law, ISPAI members are obliged to remove such materials. If the material is hosted in another jurisdiction, it is notified to the internet hotline in that jurisdiction and/or to the relevant law enforcement agencies for follow up, with the aim of having illegal content taken down.
At present all of the mobile phone operators in Ireland, under a voluntary agreement brokered by the European Commission with the GSM Alliance Europe, the association representing European mobile phone operators, implement a form of filtering on their mobile internet service, which prevents access to websites which have been identified as containing child pornography content.
In a number of EU Member States, a system of internet blocking/filtering has been introduced on a voluntary basis, whereby a "blocklist" of sites containing child pornography is made available by the police or other competent authorities, and is utilised by individual ISPs to prevent access to such content. It is generally acknowledged that all such internet blocking or filtering systems are not foolproof and can be circumvented in certain circumstances. However, such filtering systems are understood to be useful in preventing internet users from inadvertently encountering such illegal content. Of course, the key objective from a law enforcement perspective is to achieve the removal of such material from the internet at source.
A draft proposal for a Directive on combating the sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of children and child pornography was published in 2010 by the European Commission and is currently being negotiated by the EU institutions. The draft Directive contains a proposal which may require Member States to implement some form of blocking system in relation to websites containing child pornography. Ireland's participation in the adoption and implementation of this Directive has been approved by the Government and the Oireachtas. The Directive is in the course of its final negotiations at EU level and is expected to be adopted in the near future. A two year period from the date of its adoption will apply to the transposition of this Directive into national law and possible further options to combat child pornography online will be considered in that context.
