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SHARING INTIMATE IMAGES without consent and without a requirement that the person intended to cause harm to the victim could result in a fine of €5,000 and 12 months in prison under proposals being brought to Cabinet this week.
It is understood Minister for Justice Helen McEntee is to seek Cabinet approval tomorrow for new offences to deal with the non-consensual distribution of intimate images.
The move comes only a couple of days after the gardaí confirmed they are investigating the uploading of images and videos of Irish women and girls, without their consent, to a number of online forums.
It is understood that some of the images and footage are of minors.
The Victims Alliance, an advocacy group, said tens of thousands of images have been shared on various online platforms.
Last week, the minister said in the Dáil that anyone sharing intimate images of a person without their consent “will face serious criminal sanctions”.
Under the minister’s proposals, the first offence will deal with the distribution or publication of intimate images without consent and with intent to cause harm.
It is intended to carry a maximum penalty of an unlimited fine and/or seven years imprisonment.
The second offence will deal with the taking, distribution or publication of intimate images without consent without a requirement that the person intended to cause harm to the victim of the offence.
It is intended that this offence will carry a maximum penalty of a €5,000 fine and/or 12 months imprisonment.
It is understood that the fact that the person may have consented to the taking of an image will be irrelevant if it is subsequently published or distributed without their consent.
The Bill does not specify the types of technology that may be used to commit the offences, and is intentionally neutral to cover all forms of online and offline communications that cause harm to a victim.
It will also be an aggravating factor for the purposes of sentencing if the perpetrator of the offence is or was in an intimate relationship with the victim of the offence.
The new measures will be contained in amendments to the Harassment, Harmful Communications and other Related Offences Bill.
An update on the harassment legislation will also broaden the scope of the offence of harassment to cover consistent communications to or about a person, not just indecent images, and increasing the penalty from seven to ten years to reflect the harm that can be caused by most serious forms of harassment.
The maximum penalty will be increased from seven years to 10 years to reflect the harm caused by the most serious forms of harassment.
McEntee is believed to have worked closely with Brendan Howlin of the Labour Party, who tabled the Bill in the last Dáil.
The government will seek to enact the Bill as a priority, with the minister stating that she welcomes the cross party support for the Bill, which she wants to see “enacted as soon as possible”.
The Bill is scheduled for committee stage in the Dail on 1 December.
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If Wiki is accurate, Tory Island has a population of less than 150 people, some of whom have moved there for lifestyle reasons.
Tory is beautiful, and well worth a visit if you haven’t already been there.
But it would be interesting to hear something about the cost of subsidising the ferry service so we could have a clearer idea about how justifiable the islanders demands are.
@Kieran Magennis: good point..but no form of transport would survive in ireland without government subsidy as population is too small.its just the way ireland is and will be
@Kieran Magennis: you know some people move to many parts of the country for lifesytle reasons.
You could argue anybody outside of Dublin is living in their location for life style reasons.
I guess the government shouldn’t spend money on them eh?
@Barry Somers: Of course the government should subsidise public transport throughout the country. The issue in this case is by how much and whether the service as originally planned was reasonable.
They allready have a fast ferry..some brsins to come up with that idea!! Maybe if the department released the contract and tendering process thats been hidden away and not available under FOI they islanders wouldnt be so suspicious of wrongdoing which is clearly happening in the scandal
@Jono:
Was the pervious contract made public?
@P.J. Nolan: yes
Báidín Fheilimí…. did anyone give Feilim the opportunity to tender?
Sure he only goes to Gola.
They should have a vote for independence like Catalonia so they can do what they like
The date, mentioned above, gives irony to this carry on
It would be cheaper to build a bridge.
@Owen Lynch:
A 11 km bridge in the north Atlantic?
I’m not sure if anyone has read the house that disappeared but it seems his brother is the one running the ferry service that didn’t get the contract .. It reads like an Agatha Christy novel. http://donegalnews.com/2016/11/court-strikes-appeal-tory-hotel-company/
@Sos: no its not..a company from gweedore currently operate the service
Tóraigh go brách!
Sound. The training course “in order to blood future passenger-ferry skippers” sounds a bit sinister though. Can’t they just read Bram Stoker so they know what to expect?
@Fiona Fitzgerald: Or they could just apply through the CAO for Nautical Science in the NMCI.
In Kilkee not Kilkenny-predictive text. Neil Forde is no more a captain of anything that I am
Neil Forde? His last escapade was advising the OPW and inserting a condition in boatmens licences that the courts granted an injunction against. He ignored a guy capsizing a recue boat and throwing the rescuers into the water….on a river ha ha, then recommended the skipper for a permit to bring passengers to the Skelligs. A few months after he was notified of the capsized boat exactly the same happened in Kilkenny and a volunteer drowned. He retired very early from the Dept of Transport. Did he leave or was he pushed? Compare the department nonsense here with his statement and the nonsense on Valentina Island Ferry that only travels one mile each day.
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