The number of prosecutions under Coco’s Law, which prohibits sharing intimate images without consent, has risen by 41.5 percent, reaching 75 cases last year, reports Breaking News.
Recent data from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), provided by Minister for Justice, Migration and Home Affairs, Jim O’Callaghan TD, reveals that since Coco’s Law was enacted in 2021, a total of 240 prosecutions have been initiated.
The statistics show that the 75 cases handled by the ODPP last year follow 53 cases from 2024, reports Breaking News.
This year, an additional 12 cases have already been filed, bringing the 2025 total to 75, nearly double the 43 cases processed in 2023.
In 2022, the number of cases reached 49, with only eight cases in 2021, reports Breaking News.
Those convicted under Coco’s Law can face sentences of up to three years in prison in the circuit court.
Last month, An Taoiseach Micheál Martin (FF) suggested that Coco’s Law may need revisions to address the growing use of artificial intelligence in generating harmful content, reports Breaking News.
In his written response to Cork North Central TD, Padraig O’Sullivan (FF), O’Callaghan confirmed that the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020, known as Coco’s Law, became law in February 2021,
The Act criminalises the sharing or threat of sharing intimate images without consent, and also introduces a new offence targeting the distribution, publication, or sending of grossly offensive or threatening communications intended to cause harm, reports Breaking News.
Minister O’Callaghan emphasized that prosecutions are the responsibility of the ODPP, which operates independently in its mandate.
In one notable Coco’s Law case last year, a 20-year-old man from Co Clare was sent for trial at Ennis Circuit Court, accused of sharing a collage of intimate images of a 15-year-old girl on his Snapchat, reports Breaking News.
The accused is facing three charges related to the incident from November 2022, when he was just 18 years old.
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