…even if the possession of the images is clearly and understandably a criminal offence.

As a legal correspondent reporting on active court cases I can’t refuse to use the language in the charge- and I can’t change it to something more palatable. I’ve seen plenty of cases and sometimes the context of the images cannot be appropriately described as abuse or rape…

As you say “words matter” and that is especially true in the context of a criminal case where there will be a jury. As I’ve said several times before, it’s a matter for legislators to perhaps have a look at the terminology used in the legislation.

Hi Deirdre. I dislike the term as much as anyone. But it’s the term used in the charge. Not speaking specifically about this case - but if we have no idea what the images show, we cannot describe them as pictures of “rape” or “abuse”. Not every picture in these kind of cases can be so described.

Over half of 174 Dáil seats filled in Election 2024 Follow live updates as counting in General Election 2024 resumes to fill the remaining Dáil seats.

More than half of the 174 general election seats have now been filled, as the make-up of the next Dáil begins to take shape | Follow live updates

That @news.rte.ie report by Paul Reynolds on the Hutch at the RDS was a classic!

Watch: Monk's vow of silence over court ruling Gerard Hutch arrived at the RDS count centre this afternoon - shortly before he learned his audacious Dáíl bid was over.

I have a feeling we'll be watching this #GerardHutch report from Paul Reynolds for years to come #Election24