Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-22
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

I thank Deputy Kelly for his leadership on this issue. I acknowledge his Bill and thank him for the role the committee he chairs is playing in this regard. I, too, commend Gráinne Seoige on going before the committee. In recent times, what we have seen in relation to Grok and the use of AI to undress and produce nudified images is dehumanising, degrading and disgusting. There absolutely is an onus on all of us in the House - as the Deputy rightly says, it is not a party political issue - to come together to respond. I commit today that the Government absolutely will engage constructively with him on his Bill. My colleagues Deputies Boland, Butterly and Keogh are also producing a Bill on this issue. I am sure all parties in the House are considering how best to grapple with it.
I want to say a couple of things on the record of the House to be helpful in terms of working out where gaps may exist and where there is legal clarity. I acknowledge the huge work done on Coco's Law by the Minister, Deputy McEntee, during her time in the Department of justice. The sharing of non-consensual intimate images and the production and-or sharing of images, whether AI-generated or not, is illegal in Ireland under Coco's Law. The latest figures show around 99 cases in respect of sections 2, 3 or 4 of the Act have been taken between its commencement in 2021 and the end of 2023. We have seen 23 cases prosecuted on indictment in the Circuit Court.
However, the Deputy is right about the technology moving so fast. It was always envisaged, at both domestic and EU level, that we would have to continue to review laws and ensure they keep pace with technology. That is why the Taoiseach and I convened a meeting this week with several Ministers and also with Coimisiún na Meán and with the Attorney General. The Minister for communications, Deputy O'Donovan, working with the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, is committed to bringing proposals forward to the Cabinet within the next few weeks.
I have another suggestion, which I make to be constructive. Under the EU's AI Act, there is a list of prohibited practices. Our own advisory council has suggested that we as a country should seek the amendment of Article 5 of the Act by expanding it to include the prohibition of AI practices that allow users to generate non-consensual intimate images. My understanding is that under Article 112(1) of the Act, the European Commission must carry out an annual assessment of whether the Article 5 prohibited practices list should be amended and to report its finding to both the European Parliament and the Council - in other words, to try to create a mechanism to keep the prohibited list up to date.
Yes, let us work domestically. Yes, let us work to see what legislative changes may be required here in Ireland, and we will work constructively on that. Let us also ask our representatives at European level and, indeed, the Irish Presidency later this year to work to see whether we can amend the AI Act, alongside the work we should and will do in this country to improve our own legislation.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:32+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-22