Mr. Denis Kelleher:

My personal preference is that the State take on this role. This is a policy decision for the Oireachtas and for the State as to which road we go down. There is a tendency to phrase this in such a way that the only identification mechanism available is one run by the State and that if the State does not provide this then we will not be identified by anyone. In reality, of course, the general data protection regulation will force social media providers to identify who is and is not a child. The question then is: who is going to do this? The social media providers undoubtedly have the capability to do this at the moment. Somebody like myself and many other people might not like to be clearly identified by a social media provider or private sector company. We would prefer to have the State be in the position to do this. There are obviously risks attendant to that. There will also be costs.