A call has been made for legislation to be introduced to prohibit the sharing of videos of people “in their final moments”.
Independent Ireland TD Ken O’Flynn highlighted the incident in Cork last week in which 34-year-old man Luke Hyde was filmed by onlookers as he got into difficulty and drowned in the river Lee.
He called for legislation, to be called Luke’s law, to be introduced in Mr Hyde’s memory – similar to Coco’s law, which was enacted to prevent the sharing of intimate images without consent.
The Cork North-Central TD said there is “currently no legal protection to prevent the sharing of videos for someone on their final moments” and the tragedy in Cork had been compounded “by the fact that many people stood by, filming and taking footage, which was then shared on social media”.
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Earlier, Independent TD Michael Lowry highlighted the same case, pointing out that Mr Hyde’s mother witnessed people “callously filming her son’s final moments”.
The Tipperary North TD said that “families right across the country have also been subjected to similar pitiful actions. It has become common for people to record tragic events for the sole purpose of sharing or threatening to share them on social media”.
Mr Lowry added that “the harsh reality is that, nowadays, absolutely nothing is deemed off limits. The sheer power of social media has destroyed social conscience”.
Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers said it is “deeply concerning that the first instinct of some of those present when he (Mr Hyde) tragically lost his life was not to help but to take out their phones and stream the incident.
[ ‘Loving, caring’ father who drowned in river Lee remembered at funeral MassOpens in new window ]
“It is a failure of basic human decency to take the view that social media clout is more important than the dignity and privacy of someone in extreme distress in their last moments.”
He said that when this sort of content is posted, very real harm is done, and “there is a real risk that someone close to a victim of a serious accident could find out through online content”.
Mr Chambers said the issue “may be captured by an existing provision” and he would ask the Minister for Justice to respond to the points raised.
