Vol. 463 No. 6
11 Mr. O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Justice the plans, if any, she has to prepare legislation to criminalise the sale of magazines portraying child pornography and bestiality; and her views on whether this type of publication which is not banned under the Censorship of Publications Act, 1964, is frequently to be found in cases of child sex abuse. [7186/96]
92 Mr. M. Ahern asked the Minister for Justice the plans, if any, she has to prepare legislation to criminalise the sale of magazines portraying child pornography and bestiality; and her views on whether this type of publication, which is not banned under the 1964 Censorship of Publications Act, is frequently to be found in cases of child sex abuse. [7021/96]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 92 together.
I draw the attention of both Deputies to the existing legislation, the Censorship of Publications Acts, 1929 to 1967, as amended, which deals with the sale and distribution of pornographic publications.
There is a mechanism in place, under this legislation, through which obscene publications can be banned. In particular, section 9 of the Censorship of Publications Act, 1946, makes provision for the Censorship of Publications Board, on receipt of a complaint from any person, to prohibit the sale of a book or magazine which it considers to be indecent or obscene. Complaints should be made to the Censorship of Publications Board. A complaint must be accompanied by a copy of the book in question or, in the case of a magazine, by three recent issues of the magazine. Once a publication is banned, it is then a criminal offence to sell, expose, offer, advertise, keep for sale, distribute, offer or keep for distribution any such publication.
I strongly urge persons who may be aware of the sale, at any place, of books or magazines of this kind to employ the provisions outlined in section 6, which deals with obscene or pornographic books and section 9 of the Censorship of Publications Act, 1946, as amended, which deals with obscene or pornographic publications.
Arising out of a number of complaints received, I am aware that the Censorship of Publications Board has recently banned in the order of 40 publications and 39 books.
The Garda and the Customs and Excise service also have certain powers to search for, and seize, indecent or obscene pictures, books, magazines and videos. I have recently obtained the advice of the Attorney General in relation to the existing powers which the Garda has in this regard and I have forwarded his advice to the Garda Commissioner for his attention. I am aware that, where alleged breaches of the legislation come to notice, the gardaí take action.
Again, I urge anybody with information on breaches of the law, in this or in any other regard, to bring the matter to the attention of the Garda Síochána, either by contacting the local Garda station or by telephoning the Garda freephone confidential telephone No. 1800 666111.
I assure both Deputies that, if at any stage it were to become evident that the existing censorship legislation is inadequate to prevent the sale of offensive pornographic material, I will not hesitate to propose amending legislation. We all have a duty to ensure that children are protected from abuse of this kind.
In view of the increasing availability of obscene material in the State and the threat this poses to vulnerable young minds, in particular, does the Minister of State accept that the present legislation is not adequate and that the Censorship of Publications Board should be allowed to unilaterally ban certain obscene publications without having received a complaint? Does he also accept that it should be a criminal offence to sell obscene publications irrespective of whether the matter is reported?
I do not accept that the legislation is inadequate. If in the future the law is deemed inadequate I will have no difficulty introducing additional legislation. We sought the advice of the Attorney General and submitted it to the Garda Commissioner. If necessary, the legislation could be examined in the context of the discussion paper on sexual offences which the Minister is preparing.
I appreciate the concern of the Minister of State about this matter, but legislation is required to make it a criminal offence to sell obscene publications which portray child pornography and bestiality and, at the very least, other obscene material should state that it may not be sold to people under the age of 18 years.
We do not introduce legislation for the sake of doing so, we introduce only when it is necessary. If I discover that further legislation is necessary to deal with this matter it will be introduced, but I am satisfied that the present legislation is adequate to deal with the matter.
Most parents are satisfied that the legislation dealing with this matter is grossly inadequate. As there is a proliferation of obscene and disgusting material available at outlets, tough legislation is required to protect vulnerable young minds. Will the Minister of State address this problem?
If the Deputy believes that a significant amount of pornographic literature is available in the State he should do his duty as a citizen and report the matter to the Garda authorities. If he reports it to me I will have the matter investigated. I do not take this matter any less seriously than the Deputy. As the Minister of State with responsibility for children, I am probably more concerned than most Members about the matter. If parents are concerned they should get three recent issues of the publication concerned and send them to the Garda authorities. If the Deputy forwards me details of the complaints to which he referred I will ensure that the necessary action is taken.
