In a bid to combat child pornography and other kinds of illegal online activity, the Irish government is set to establish an Office for Internet Safety, along with an Internet Safety Advisory Council.
Details of the new office were announced at today’s launch of two books from the Get With IT! series of internet safety for parents.
The Office for Internet Safety will be part of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law reform and its responsibility will include acting as an internet watchdog, including running hotline.ie, a site for Irish citizens who wish to report illegal online material, in particular child pornography.
The minister of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Brian Lenihan said that with the huge increase of those using the internet over the past few years that the challenge to protect against illegal activity has been increased.
“Those who misuse the internet are highly sophisticated and technically astute, and we must continually and pro-actively examine the effectiveness of our defences,” said Lenihan.
“As Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform I felt it was time to meet some of those challenges with the establishment of an office dedicated to internet safety, located within my Department.”
Additionally this new office will make a place for the serious issues of cybercrime in the jurisdiction of overall crime as dealt with by the dept for Justice, Equality and Law Reform which should guarantee greater unity across state agencies for these crimes.
By Marie Boran
