Bill must tackle use of technology in child sex abuse, expert says

The State’s special rapporteur on child protection has told the Government it must take action over the use of technology in the committing of sexual offences against children.

Dr Geoffrey Shannon has submitted his ninth report on child protection to the Cabinet, which considered it on Tuesday.

The Irish Times has seen a copy of his recommendations.

Dr Shannon makes a number of proposals in the report, including altering the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill, 2015, to tackle the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in sexual offences against children.

His report said: “Mobile phones are now very powerful computers with the memory capacity to contain many thousands of images, text and video files that constitute child pornography, along with ICT evidence of grooming, solicitation, sexual exploitation and important evidence relating to contact sexual offences.

"To reflect this development, An Garda Síochána should be provided with a power to search a suspect of such crime in a place other than the home - either a power similar to Section 23 of the Misuse of Drugs Acts or a category of warrant to allow a search of a specific person in a public place."

Recommendations

Dr Shannon recommends an expansion of the definition of child pornography to include computer-generated images of abuse.

The report also proposes changing the law to allow children under the age of 18 to give a video-recorded statement of evidence.

The Bill currently states that a judge can direct a child to give evidence in court behind a screen.

However, Dr Shannon said the presence of children in court should be avoided at all costs and that the legislation may be problematic in this regard.

His report also recommends that consideration be given to providing a definition of consent in the Bill, claiming the current vagueness on the matter is “unsatisfactory”.

The Bill is progressing through the Dáil at present.

Dr Shannon’s report also recommends that the direct provision system be abolished and that standards at direct provision centres should be improved in the interim.