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Justice Minister Helen McEntee will bring the proposals to Cabinet tomorrow. Sam Boal

Sharing intimate images with intent to harm could carry seven year prison sentence

The new offences deal with the non-consensual distribution of intimate images.

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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    Mute flexfinn
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 5:19 PM

    Its a start ,hopefully culprits will think twice before sharing anything now

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    Mute Jurga Moylan
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 5:26 PM

    2 years for child torture in a cork case last week. 7 years for sharing a picture. What a system

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    Mute Richard Ahern
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 5:33 PM

    @Jurga Moylan: The wigged buff-oons don’t do logic.

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    Mute ▪️
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 5:40 PM

    @Jurga Moylan: Cop on to yourself. “Up to 7” will probably mean about 1 or 2, if it isn’t suspended, in practice.

    Instead of making this into a ‘what about this other horrible crime that isn’t punished harshly enough’ issue, how about we rejoice that this will FINALLY be illegal.

    It isn’t just “posting a picture”. It ruins lives. Have a bit of perspective.

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    Mute Peter Cavey
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 5:40 PM

    @Jurga Moylan: if someone put a naked picture of you on the internet, I’d be guessing you would be happy for a 7 year prison sentence for the person who did it.

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    Mute Gerard Smith
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 5:41 PM

    @Jurga Moylan: the key word here is could. Ultimately it will be a slap on the wrist. Minimum sentencing is required to tale the ridiculous inconsistency from judges sentencing.

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    Mute Citygal
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 6:49 PM

    @Jurga Moylan: not just sharing a picture though is it, it’s sharing an intimate picture which will forever be on the Internet and a quick name search could lead anyone to see it at any time of your life

    26
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    Mute Donal Desmond
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 6:31 PM

    Have no problem concerning this law… but how about sharing confidential government documents to an unauthorised person.

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    Mute James Fox
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 6:40 PM

    @Donal Desmond: yawn. That show has moved on. I suggest you do the same

    64
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    Mute Donal Desmond
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 7:06 PM

    @James Fox: Not for a second will I or other people move on from the corruption of this government. If all your response consists of is a yawn .. Than that is all that is wrong with this country.

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    Mute Proudly Italian
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 7:20 PM

    It happened last week, in Italy: a girl, primary school teacher, send intimate images of herself to her boyfriend.
    They broke up after a while. Boyfriend send those pics to his football buddies, for a laugh. One of the lads showed pic to his wife. Wife recognize her as teacher of the kids. Went to the principal, and the principal sacked the teacher.
    Eventually she decides to report everything to the police.
    - boyfriend sentenced to 5 yrs, according to the recent law called: “porn revenge”
    - boyfriend’s friend got lighter sentence for shoving and circulating the pic
    - principal got sentenced for unlawful dismissal
    - teacher got money as repair damage, but… will be hard to get her life back

    Never, EVER, send intimate pics to anyone. Once out there you lose control and ANYTHING can happen

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    Mute Michael Clinton
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 5:19 PM

    It’s a disgusting and degrading thing to do.
    People have committed suicide over things like this.
    Of course the perpetrators of a thing lime this should face a serious custodial sentence.

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    Mute Michael Clinton
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 5:23 PM

    @Michael Clinton:
    * a thing like this*

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    Mute Supes Kz
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 6:41 PM

    I’ll probably get attacked for this but I have to say I think this is total insanity, possibly up to 7 years.
    An average life sentence in Ireland ranges ~17 to 22 years. ~98% are men.

    Is posting such pictures of someone without consent ethnically and morally repugnant act, absolutely it is.

    However in my opinion this type of toxic idealogue law will be open to horrendous abuse and will undoubtedly ruin the lives of a number of innocent people who for a statistical fact will be wrongly convicted.

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    Mute Sorcha Ní Shúilleabháin
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 7:08 PM

    @Supes Kz: Surely you could use the logic that a tiny percentage will be wrongly convicted with any law?

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    Mute Cian - Wash your
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 7:19 PM

    @Sorcha Ní Shúilleabháin: Of course. Its a poorly thought out point.

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    Mute Supes Kz
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 7:40 PM

    @Sorcha Ní Shúilleabháin: Yes, which is why it is vital you don’t introduce these idealogue laws with prison sentences that are completely open to serious abuse.
    As a person accused by a potentially irate former partner after a toxic break up how do you prove verbal consent or perhaps a person simply genuinely misinterpreted a non verbal gesture.
    It becomes one persons word versus another.

    Its nothing like a burglary/shoplifting where you can have cctv etc an eye witness, DNA, fingerprints etc which all help ensure totally innocent people are not convicted and the guilty people are.

    In my opinion it’s a very dangerous path trying to implement such toxic idealogue laws, you leave the door wide open for serious abuse to what is just as morally wrong which is “revenge accusers”

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    Mute Supes Kz
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 7:41 PM

    @Cian – Wash your: You just don’t grasp it

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    Mute Supes Kz
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 8:19 PM

    @Cian – Wash your: In case my point is lost as it was with the other person, because it will be open to such abuse the percentage won’t be as low as it is with other crimes as mentioned above (shoplifting or burglary).
    It may be many times higher and in fact in my opinion would uniquely be specifically open to abuse by also immoral “revenge accuses” to hurt and convict innocent people.

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    Mute great gael of Eire
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 9:19 PM

    @Supes Kz: it’s just going to continue to fill our prisons full of even more poor people. We have adopted the English common law, it’s designed in such a way it punishes poor people a d rich people get away or off with little or no sentences. Fact

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    Mute Dobby Dooo Dooo
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 10:36 PM

    @Supes Kz: So what’s your solution then? How would you feel of someone shared a naked photo of you without your consent and your work colleagues came across it? Would you want justice? I know I would..

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    Mute thesaltyurchin
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 7:23 PM

    maybe just don’t do it in the first instance.

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    Mute Lisa
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 8:26 PM

    @thesaltyurchin:

    Let’s pretend John plays for Kerry and he shares their All Ireland tactics with his brother Patrick in advance of the game. He trusts his brother absolutely. Some crucial, private information (I’m making this up obviously).

    Patrick gets thick at John and shares the tactics with the other team in the final in advance.

    Do you really think Patrick is completely guilt free in that situation?

    18
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    Mute Proudly Italian
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 8:27 PM

    @thesaltyurchin: Exactly. Never, EVER send intimate picture to anyone. Once out there we lose control. Anything can happen, from being stolen, sent by mistake or willingly to cause harm. We’ve a gun in our hands, before we realize it.

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    Mute Keith O'Reilly
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 10:22 PM

    @thesaltyurchin: It’s 2020, people send nudes to each other, that’s not going to change. It’s better to make abuse like this an offence rather than victim blame.

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    Mute Brian Stafford
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 5:33 PM

    Not a dry days chance in Galway. You’d get a suspended sentence for rape in this country, never mind sending some nude photos.

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    Mute maevekearney
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 6:10 PM

    @Brian Stafford: that’s true but sharing intimate images been finally regarded as a criminal offence is good.

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    Mute Cynical
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 6:52 PM

    The girl who cried Woufle

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    Mute Maria Quinn
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 8:03 PM

    In Spain a young mother of two killed herself, her ex shared time ago, someone kept and shared for second time intimate photos in the WhatsApp group of work. That was the welcome back after the maternity leave, 3 months in Spain. Most of the male co-workers found it was funny to go to her work station, have check on her and made a denigrating comment …. all of them knew her, knew she was nursing a young baby and the lack of sleep; they knew the ex and her knew partner …. very sad, her ex is also the father of her first child, he was devastated because he made a mistake when they brook up and he paid for it … and then years after someone has kept those photos and decided to share in work forums and sexualised a young mum of a few months old baby

    Maybe when the employers face most of their staff going to prison at the same time, they decided to take action quicker

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    Mute Paul Shepherd
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 7:00 PM

    Up to seven years, in other words a two year suspended sentence or maybe just a fine?

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    Mute Dave Hayes
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 7:46 PM

    About time too!

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    Mute Niall Byrne
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 7:35 PM

    The Only Fans women are pornographers. Strange to see our government take such a strong stand to legitimize this industry.

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    Mute HairyTeeth
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 7:46 PM

    @Niall Byrne: the law isn’t about Only Fans, get a grip

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    Mute Tomás O Droma
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    Nov 23rd 2020, 8:10 PM

    Good

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    Mute Watchful Axe
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    Nov 24th 2020, 1:28 AM

    They might as well add deep fakes to the legislation, that’ll be the next thing used for bullying/harassment purposes.

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