Victims of intimate image abuse can now report images to Hotline.ie

Hildegarde Naughton

The reporting mechanism is one aspect of a new Department of Justice awareness campaign to highlight that sharing or threatening to share intimate images of another person without their consent is now punishable with up to seven years in prison.

Hildegarde Naughton, minister of state for civil and criminal justice, said: “Sharing an intimate image of someone without their consent is abhorrent, and can have long-lasting and harmful emotional and mental health effects.

“Sharing or threatening to share intimate images is a form of abuse, and there are no excuses for it. Motivations don’t matter.

“If you share an intimate image without consent, you share in the abuse and there is legislation in place with appropriate punitive measures that will challenge the actions of these abusers.”

The Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2021, dubbed “Coco’s law” by the government, created new offences which criminalise the non-consensual distribution of intimate images.

Ms Naughton said: “Coco’s law represents a big step forward in tackling harassment and harmful communications and this campaign is about raising awareness of various aspects of this legislation.

“Abusers can often use the threat of sharing intimate images as an element of coercive control in relationships. The message must and will be heard that sharing or threatening to share intimate images it will not be tolerated under any circumstances both by the law and by wider society.”