Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The witnesses spoke of children and teenagers not feeling good enough, the pressures they face, including the barrage of images and the use of various filters and so forth. This very much mirrors what happens in the adult world where this problem is also prevalent. Much of the behaviour described could be learned from adults. There is a bigger and wider debate involved in this issue to the extent that if something is happening in the adult world, it will definitely happen in the world of children. I fully agree that education will be key but it must be provided across the board, for adults and children. If this is happening in the adult world, we must target it because it influences children.

Have studies been done on learned behaviour, namely, the way in which adult behaviour affects children? Cyberbullying is widespread among adults. For example, people can say anything they like on Twitter. How many tweets have been sent about certain people? This behaviour has come to be socially acceptable and no one bats an eyelid about it. Have studies been done on the damaging effects of such behaviour?

Smartphone use exploded in 2010-11, which means someone who was 14 or 15 years old at the time will be 19 or 20 years old now. If action is to be taken in this area, people of that age should be involved in any groups or think tanks that are established or any research that is done because young adults will be able to reflect on their experience and offer us something that people of my age could not offer because we did not grow up with this technology, even if we use it.

We have fallen far behind the 8 ball, as it were, because digital technology has moved with such speed since 2007-08 when we went mobile. A front-loaded approach is needed, which means hitting this issue hard to ensure the action we take becomes part of culture, the done thing and the norm so that in five or ten years, it will be understood and no longer described as education. This may be a project that we will have to hit in the next five or six years in order that everyone gets up to speed with it. Once we have the basics of digital technology, we have the tools to find everything else we need to solve our problems. This will also be key. I ask the witnesses to respond to my question on whether studies have been done to identify a correlation between adult behaviour and children's behaviour.