Ireland’s Minister for Justice is reportedly preparing legislation that would criminalise the possession and distribution of what’s being described as “extreme” or violent pornography, according to the Irish Independent.
Jim O’Callaghan, who leads the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, said his department is currently drafting proposals that would prohibit the production, distribution, and possession of “extreme or violent pornography.” He indicated that he hopes to present the measures to the government within the next two months.
O’Callaghan added that members of Ireland’s national police service have advised him there is a “direct link” between online pornography and “serious sexual violence on women,” including cases of “nonfatal strangulation, degrading sexual acts and coercion.”
“I’m not a person who’s interested in censorship, but I am going to bring forward proposals to criminalise extreme violent pornography,” he continues. “I think it is necessary to introduce it and start it in order to protect young people, teenage children, young men, and women as well,” O’Callaghan said. “People are getting a distorted view of what human sexuality is about.”
