Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. Shannon for his thorough and excellent presentation. Deputy Jim O'Callaghan sends his apologies. He cannot attend here as he has a number of conflicting meetings. As one can see on the monitor, the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill is being debated in the Dáil. He cannot be in two places at the one time.

Dr. Shannon has mentioned a few areas that I would like to discuss. As Deputy Daly mentioned, the right to erasure is something that I support. Dr. Shannon has managed to highlight in his presentation some areas that have, heretofore, been ignored but are fundamental to children's right. Officials from the Department of Justice and Equality attended here a number of weeks ago. On that occasion we raised these matters with them. Unfortunately, they failed to respond or give a reasonable answer for ignoring the full transposition of some of the issues mentioned in the report. As Dr. Shannon has detailed about the right to erasure, as people are vetted and the online world grows it is fundamental that people can be forgotten, particularly children.

As Deputy Daly mentioned, it would be a novel idea to introduce a full and comprehensive consultation process that involved children. Perhaps Dr. Shannon can give details about other areas that he is involved in where such consultation takes place. A focus group would allow children to play an active role in making decisions about issues that will probably affect their future children. We should engage with children now.

We have all seen the predatory targeting of children by parts of the advertising industry such as the gambling and alcohol industries. Studies conducted in the United States show that children had more knowledge of Budweiser than about basic things one would expect them to know. I am not sure how to address the problem but I believe that we should address it in this Bill. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health is trying to bring in the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill and address some of the advertising restrictions. This committee can address the matter and the digital age of consent when discussing today's Bill.

I agree with the call for the lowest age of digital consent to be 13 years. It is another area of the Bill that has been ignored. It seems the tough questions and tough policy responses have been completely ignored in terms of children's rights. We need a comprehensive response and for the Bill, as drafted, to be amended. Now is the time to make a positive change in order to protect children's rights in the future.

Dr. Shannon has comprehensively addressed all of the issues. I am sure many committee members will agree with me that we should amend the legislation thus enshrining children's rights properly in the context of data protection.