Government adviser suggests criminal charges for cyberbullying

A government adviser has said it may be time to introduce criminal charges for cyberbullying.

Special rapporteur on children Geoffrey Shannon has said it is particularly important in schools.

Geoffrey Shannon has said that we need to have stricter sanctions around cyber bullying, up to and including criminal charges.

These would scale up in schools to include punishments such as suspensions, with criminal proceedings a last resort.

It can be hard to define cyberbullying, or always be aware when it is happening.

But Geoffrey Shannon has said we need to act when it is serious: “There comes a time when the harassment if it has such a negative impact on the citizen needs to be captured by a criminal sanction.”

Digital Rights Ireland though have a different view.

They say the legislation we have at the moment is strong enough, what we lack is efficient policing.

T.J McIntyre from the group has explained: “Gardaí in some cases simply have no access to email or outside web, in some cases they are not aware how best to pursue information on Facebook for example and my research suggests that what we need to see is a lot more resources put into this area.”

Geoffrey Shannon however argues that when the abuse is strong and damaging, it needs to be ended.