Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for being here and for all the work she has done in this area, both in terms of the recent legislation which was one of the first in Europe, certainly, and in relation to her previous work in the education committee where we dealt a lot both with bullying and the need to revamp the RSE education, part of which issue was, of course, around being able to view pornography, etc., online. This is something that the Minister herself feels strongly about and is willing to help.

There is no doubt about it. In all of the reports and in all of our own personal experience with children, we see they are spending an increasing amount of time on the Internet. When I say on the Internet, it is mainly through the phone. It can be through their parents' phone or their own phone and sometimes on a tablet.

Many of them undoubtedly are exposed to content that is simply not suitable for them to see, such as pornographic material, which can be extremely damaging and traumatising. There are many people, and, indeed, many parents, who are unaware of what lies on the Internet. It can be easy for children to come across very mature content without meaning to and it can be very traumatising for them because it can impact on them for the rest of their lives.

All the research shows us that pornography is now the most prominent sex educator for many young people. That is concerning. The research shows us that 50% of boys have seen porn before the age of 13 and 50% of girls before the age of 15. Shockingly, the research shows that 35% of porn shows non-consensual sexual acts, mainly with men being the predator. What type of lesson is that to our young people?

We have to remind our young people, or reflect on it ourselves, that when children - they are children - are learning about sex through pornography they are seeing on smartphones, that can shape taste and expectations. Of course, porn bodies are not normal. Porn sex is not safe sex. Porn is a performance. It misrepresents pleasure. It is a huge concern, as well as the bullying that goes on. For that reason, I thank the Senators for tabling this motion on this really important area.

No doubt we have a role. Legislators have a role. Teachers and schools have a role but parents play the most important role of all.

Children's devices should have a parental lock. There are safe browsers designed specifically for children but they need to be improved to ensure that it is safer for children to be online. Google runs an extension, called Kiddle, which provides a search engine for children with filtered results to ensure that children do not come across explicit content. While this tool is definitely a step in the right direction, it is not enough. It is severely limited in its results and may not provide enough results, for example, when children need to use smart technology for researching a school project, etc.

It is important that we all communicate and that parents communicate with their children and explain the dangers of the Internet to them from a younger age. It is important that within schools the conversations are had also. Communication is absolutely key but we also need strong solid infrastructure and resources put in place to protect children. That is why the age of digital consent is hugely important.

The work that Webwise, the Lockers resource and CyberSafeKids do is really important. We were all shocked when we saw the results in February of this year that showed that a quarter of six-year-olds have their own smartphone. I am still shocked when I see that figure of 25% of children under six with a smartphone. Anyone under ten or 11 should not have a phone. They certainly should not have a smartphone but when one thinks of a quarter of children, and as 45% of ten-year-olds are allowed use smartphones in their bedrooms, there is nobody monitoring, which is really shocking.

It is important also to call out the example that was shown in Greystones, and, I think, in Navan as well, of the schools that have banned smartphones. Personally, that is something that I would like to see every school carrying out. I was listening to a debate recently on the radio where an organisation that deals with young people said that young people were reluctant to give up their phones but when they knew everybody was handing up their phone, they were happy and they reported afterwards that they had a much better and more positive experience not being near their phones but it was that peer pressure that they were very clearly under.

There are many positives about smartphones but there are a lot of negatives, particularly for the age cohort that we are dealing with. I fully support the recommendations that are made in the motion and appreciate the Minister's presence and support here.