New legislation that would strengthen the laws relating to child pornography and online grooming is being welcomed by Kilkenny’s Rape Crisis Centre.
The Criminal Law Sexual Offences Bill is being returned to the Dáil this week.
As it stands, a person has to download images of child pornography in order to commit a crime, but this legislation would criminalise even the viewing of those images.
The laws around sending explicit images of minors will also become a criminal offence.
And this is something that Kilkenny Rape Crisis Centre manager, Ruth Butler says teenagers in particular need to be made aware of.