Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences (Amendment) Bill 2026: Second Stage [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-10
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Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South

It would. The Attorney General has advised that the proposed increase in the penalty would be a disproportionate penalty for an offence where there is no requirement to prove any criminal intent. The reason we introduced Coco's Law was because images were being created and recorded and then being published and distributed. This was clearly very damaging and upsetting for the individuals concerned. We need to look at the fact that all that is being done by this Act is that the generation of the image would be a criminal offence and there would be no requirement for it to have been distributed it onwards. Such a significant penalty for an offence where there is no requirement to prove any intention to commit a criminal offence could be problematic in the context of Article 38 of the Constitution. As I have said, the Government is taking the issue of online safety very seriously and I have listened with interest to what colleagues have said.
I will turn now to the concrete steps that the Government has taken to address the use of Grok. As I indicated earlier, under the Digital Services Act, the European Commission is responsible for oversight. On 26 January 2026 the Commission decided to launch a formal investigation under the Digital Services Act into X and its Grok Al tool. The Government welcomes this decision, and I want to highlight that Coimisiún na Meán is formally involved with the European Commission in this investigation and was instrumental in the work leading up to its launch. In addition, and as suggested by the Al advisory council, the Government is exploring amendments to the Artificial Intelligence Act to expand the list of prohibited Al practices. A lot of work is being done in this area. As I said, I welcome the Bill being introduced by Deputy Devine. I will give it serious consideration and I will work with the Opposition on it.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-10/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:36+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-10