Online “flashing” is to be included as a specific offence under a proposed change to online safety legislation due to be considered by the Cabinet on Tuesday.
The additional offence is to be added to those listed in the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill under an amendment expected to be put forward by Minister for Media Catherine Martin.
A string of criminal offences covering everything from online threats to child pornography are already included in the Bill.
A planned Coimisiún na Meán (media commission) – which will have an online safety commissioner – will be charged with policing how websites, including social media platforms, deal with harmful content and will be able to order its removal.
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It will draw up online safety codes and will have the power to levy fines of up to €20 million or 10 per cent of turnover on social media services that are not compliant with the codes.
A proposed amendment to the Bill is to include the criminal offence of flashing, which is defined in other legislation as a person exposing their genitals “intending to cause fear, distress or alarm to another person”.
Another proposed amendment to the planned legislation will ensure the commission has the legal basis to phase in a system allowing individuals to make complaints about harmful online content. It comes after such a system was recommended by an expert group.
It is understood that the proposed individual complaints system will initially focus on children and a number of non-offence specific categories of harmful online content such as cyberbullying.
Another proposed amendment would see the commission make media service codes aimed at promoting gender balance on TV and radio current affairs programmes and music shows. This could include a requirement for stations to publish their levels of gender balance, though the precise measures to be included will be a matter for the commission to determine.
Separately, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly is expected to bring a memo to Cabinet to change the funding arrangements for four hospices to provide them with a more certain financial footing.
It is proposed that Milford Care Centre in Limerick, Galway Hospice, the Marymount Care Centre in Cork and St Francis Hospice in Dublin, which all provide palliative care beds and services for terminally ill people, will be redesignated from section 39 to section 38 organisations.
This will mean they will be funded to provide a defined level of service on behalf of the HSE and their employees would be classified as public servants, which is not currently the case.
There is a belief in Government that the change in the arrangements is necessary as the hospices are providing services that would commonly be in high-dependency hospital units and the existing funding model and continued reliance on fund-raised income does not provide financial sustainability.
