Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I compliment Senator Seery Kearney on her work on the motion and I welcome the Minister. I concur with the comments of Senator Cassells. I worked on the pre-legislative scrutiny of the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act. When it started here in the Seanad, we had 27 hours of debate on it. The Minister, Deputy Martin, was here for 26 or 27 hours. There was no guillotine implemented. Every single amendment was debated and discussed and positive changes were made. One of the most significant changes made related to the online safety commissioner. The youth advisory committee was another recommendation that was taken on board. In the Minister's introduction, she referred to Coimisiún na Meán having engaged with the youth advisory group already.

One of the most startling figures from the CyberSafeKids report is that 24% of six-year-olds have smartphones. I am the father of three young boys. My oldest is 12. He got a smartphone a few months ago and, for the last three years, he was the only child in his class who did not have one. He is 12 now so, from nine years of age, everybody in his class had a smartphone and were on Snapchat and all of these other platforms. He gets to use WhatsApp but we have parental controls on it and limit the amount of time he can use it for. Some 28% of parents nationally use parental control. Unbeknownst to ourselves, we are allowing our children into another world that is completely unsafe.

There are advantages to using smart technology. I have done a lot of work with the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Autism and we have advocated for the use of assistive technology and what it can do to support kids with speech and language issues. In just the last six months, the Government launched an initiative with AsIAm whereby 500 assistive technology smart devices with apps that can help with speech and language are being given to kids and their families. Training is also being provided for the parents.

That is a positive usage of smart technology but kids are also getting on to the various social media platforms that are out there. As has been said, it is a public health issue. That is the reality of it. We are in the last 11 months of the current Government and, for this Government and the next, this is a serious issue and one of the biggest challenges we face. Children are losing their childhoods. There are kids who are not playing sport or who are not communicating. The standard of English is being reduced within the schools because of high usage of this technology. We need to take action, as Senator Cassells mentioned. We met young kids at the committee and they want us to help them. They recognise the challenges they face but the algorithms used by the companies have made it so addictive that kids use these services from first thing in the morning until the last thing before they go to bed at night. There are kids bringing devices to their bedrooms at night. As a parent, I am fearful. I am grateful that my own son has accepted the rules we have put in place but, unfortunately, not every parent is doing that. We have seen issues of bullying online and cases of suicide. We need to take action.

When we discussed the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act, we spoke about the minimum age. The Minister mentioned that the EU is looking at that but we need to take action ourselves. We should not wait to see what the EU is going to do. A significant number of states in America have taken action in the last 12 months, instituting a minimum age of 14 for an account and allowing accounts for those under 16 only with parental consent. We need to put something like that in place. As I said, it is probably the biggest challenge we face. It is about protecting our children's lives at present but also their future. I do not think we should wait. When we introduced the smoking ban, it was a world first. We need to take that step.I compliment the Minister on the work she has done in this area and the respect she has shown to us in the Chamber and to the issue at all times when engaging in it. We need to take the big step and do it for our children's future. I urge that this happens in the near future.