Written Answers - Pornographic Material.
Tony Gregory
Question:
207
Mr. Gregory
asked the
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform
his response to the issue raised in correspondence (details supplied) in relation to dissemination of hard core pornographic promotional material.
[25931/98]
The correspondence referred to by the Deputy raises a number of important issues which I will deal with in some detail.
The importation of pornographic material, whether by post or by other means, is prohibited under section 42 of the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876. The Customs Service is responsible for the enforcement aspects of this legislation and I am aware that they are very active in this regard. Any pornographic material imported is liable to seizure and the importer may be prosecuted.
With regard to the question of dissemination, distribution, sale and/or rental of pornographic material, the following is a summary of existing legislative measures which deal with these issues: Section 4 of the Vagrancy Act, 1824; section 72 of the Towns Improvement Ireland Act, 1854; section 3 of the Indecent Advertisements Act, 1889; section 63(i)(b) of the Post Office Act, 1908; Censorship of Films Acts 1923 to 1992; Censorship of Publications Acts 1929 to 1967; section 9(i) of the Criminal Law Act, 1976; Video Recordings Acts, 1989 and 1992; and section 7 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act, 1994.
The Deputy will also be aware that in July of this year the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act, 1998 came into operation. The Act makes it an offence,inter alia, to produce, distribute, import, export, sell or show any child pornography, punishable by up to 14 years imprisonment on conviction on indictment.
Enforcement of this legislation is, of course, a matter for the Garda Siochána. As the Deputy will appreciate the gardaí act on the basis of information or complaints received in relation to matters of this kind. I am informed by the Garda authorities that they have received no complaint in relation to the matters to which the Deputy refers. I would urge the Deputy to encourage any of the persons concerned to report the matter to the gardaí so that they can carry out inquiries to ascertain if any possible breaches of the criminal law have occurred.
In view of the specific issues raised I have also brought this matter to the attention of the Data Protection Commissioner and I understand that he is investigating the data protection aspects of the matter. It is, of course, open to anyone who has a complaint about this matter to also refer the data protection aspects of their complaint to the office of the Data Protection Commissioner for investigation.
In conclusion, I should point out that the importation and distribution or sale of pornography are among the issues addressed in the discussion paper on the law of sexual offences which I published in May of this year. An analysis of the submissions received on the paper is at present being undertaken in my Department.
