John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. This is a really important debate. When I was doing some research on this subject and liaising with Senator Seery Kearney on the drafting of the motion, I spoke to Mr. Brian Barron, the principal of Portlaw National School in Waterford. That school and other schools in Waterford have adopted the Gen Free Charter, which essentially says that there will be no smart phones or social media while in primary school and there will be respect for the age rating on video games. He is one of a number of principals and teachers that have been going around the country to give talks to schools that are interested in this grassroots movement. That movement wants us, as legislators, to take a definitive stance on this issue.

This is the public health issue of this generation and I do not say that lightly. Ireland was so strong in leading the way in imposing a ban on smoking indoors and the world has followed, by and large. This country needs to be the leader in this space too because it is so important. I come from an educational background, having taught for 11 years before being elected to this House. In that period, I saw cyberbullying and the distress it was causing students. I saw that fundamental movement skills in children coming into secondary school were reduced because they were not outside, playing on the streets and doing all of those things that young children should be doing in their formative years. This really is a public health issue that we have to grasp. I am loathe to see the State acting as a nanny State and stipulating rules but in this instance it is warranted. The issue of age is so important here. Parents need our assistance. As Senators Lombard and Carrigy said, it is a real challenge in households. Parents are struggling to handle children who are demanding what their friends have so by putting an age floor in place, we will actually help parents. It will also drive a worldwide debate because there is no doubt that social media use and smart phone use is having a detrimental impact on mental health.

At a recent US Senate hearing, Mr. Mark Zuckerberg apologised to the parents of children who died by suicide after being bullied online on social media accounts. He spoke about all of the great things that his company and other companies were doing to try to combat that but in reality, it is not enough. Children are being detrimentally affected by their use of social media. In 2011 Mr. Steve Jobs said he limited how much technology his children used at home. Mr. Bill Gates said that he had placed time limits on the use of screens, banned mobile phones at the dinner table and did not allow his children to have them until they were 14. Mark Zuckerberg does not share pictures of his children on the social media platform that he created. If the people who created this technology and social media are not allowing their own children to interact with devices and social media platforms until they reach a certain age, that says an awful lot.

The statistics that have been cited here are scary. It is estimated that 24% of six year olds have their own smart phone and 45% of ten year olds are allowed to use their smart phones in their bedrooms. Only 28% of parents are using parental controls and only 20% feel that the good aspects of the Internet outweigh the risks. It really is the public health issue of this generation. I urge the Minister and her Government colleagues to work together on a cross-departmental basis to ensure that we protect this generation of children from the risks associated with social media and smart phone use. We have to get in line with what the grassroots movements in this country are doing. They want guidance, help and support from the Government so that they can do what we know is the right thing to do. We have to grasp that nettle.