Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 February 2026
60. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment the steps his Department is taking to ensure that social media artificial intelligence tools cannot be used by sexual predators to generate naked images of people, including child abuse imagery; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3863/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThis is a very serious issue and the Government has been clear from the outset that the sharing of non-consensual intimate images is illegal, the generation of child sexual abuse material is illegal and the use of AI to generate illegal material or to cause harm is unacceptable.
Coco's Law, the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act, creates a serious offence of distribution or publication of an intimate image without consent with intent to cause harm to the victim.
Under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act the production, possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material, whether offline or online, whether generated by AI or otherwise, is illegal and attracts a sentence of up to 14 years imprisonment.
Under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the European Commission is responsible for the oversight of very large online platforms, like X, which are required to assess and mitigate risks that their services may create in relation to the proliferation of illegal content online and the protection of minors.
An urgent cross-Government response was mobilised in response to this issue when it arose in January, including the relevant Ministers and the Attorney General as well as Coimisiún na Meán to ensure a full understanding of the significant legislative and regulatory framework that already exists and provides protections in relation to this issue and how it was being applied.
Coimisiún na Meán is Ireland’s Digital Services Coordinator under the DSA and has engaged intensively with the European Commission since the initial reports on this serious issue. Nationally, Coimisiún na Meán has met with the Assistant Commissioner for Organised & Serious Crime, the heads of the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau, the Garda National Protective Services Bureau and the Online Child Exploitation Unit as well as separately with both Hotline.ie (Ireland’s national reporting centre) and the Data Protection Commission.
An Garda Síochána have stated their full commitment to supporting victims and have numerous investigations underway to determine if there have been breaches of the law.
On 26 January the European Commission announced the commencement of an investigation into X and the use of Grok to generate and disseminate illegal content, under the Digital Services Act. Coimisiún na Meán collaborated closely with the Commission in their preparation and are formally associated to the investigation. The DSA puts responsibility for facilitating the dissemination of harmful content where it belongs, with the online platforms.
The Government also welcomes this week’s announcement by the Data Protection Commission that it has commenced a large-scale inquiry which will examine X’s compliance with some of their fundamental obligations under the GDPR in relation to the matters at hand.
It is important now to respect the independence of the relevant national authorities and the European Commission who are responsible for enforcement of the relevant laws and regulations and allow their investigations to be carried out independently and in accordance with procedural safeguards.
In addition to these ongoing investigations, the Attorney General and the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration are examining and will consider whether further legislative measures are needed in the area of non-consensual intimate images. Work is also underway in the Department of Justice to transpose the EU Violence Against Women Directive which provides new protections in this area.
My own Department is liaising with the European Commission and Member States to advocate for adding the use of AI systems for the generation of such images to the list of prohibited AI practices under the EU AI Act.
Online safety is a core pillar underpinning the new National Digital and AI Strategy 2030 and a priority for Ireland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union. These measures reinforce Government’s commitment to enhancing online safety, in particular for children and young people, as a whole-of-Government and European priority.
