Senator seeks to drop 'child pornography' as legal term and recognise it as exploitation

Senator Eileen Flynn wants the term "child pornography" changed in Irish legislation to "child exploitation material"

Senator Eileen Flynn said: "I think it's a great step forward in the right direction for children and survivors of child abuse, as well because child pornography doesn't sound right and I do believe it's the right thing to do." File photo: Maxwells

A new bill is seeking to change the term "child pornography" in Irish legislation to "child exploitation material".

Senator Eileen Flynn, a member of the civil engagement group in the Seanad, says she hopes the government will support the change.

"The purpose of the bill is to change the name from child pornography to Child Exploitation material, and basically the reason is it doesn't sound right, the term: child pornography.

"What we are looking to do is change the language in Irish legislation.

"We believe language defines our understanding, we believe that spreads to the community and again as a Traveller woman, I know that language can create so much inequality and racism.

Language is important and in Ireland, we tend to cover up a lot of stuff and we're just not honest about what's going on, and child pornography is abuse, it's exploitation and we need to name it for what it is.

If this bill is successful, it will also change the name in previous acts replacing the phrase with "child exploitation material".

"I think it's a great step forward in the right direction for children and survivors of child abuse, as well because child pornography doesn't sound right and I do believe it's the right thing to do.

Ms Flynn said that "you can never be 100% sure" on government support but she hopes the bill would be supported. "In the civil engagement group, we always tend to do the right thing and stand up for the right thing. 

"So let's hope that the government will just do the right thing today and the most important thing is if this was successful today, it's really about pushing it and getting someone to push it through the Dáil in the next coming weeks, not to let it go into next year or the year after. It's about pushing it through as soon as possible."