Dr. Geoffrey Shannon:

This links into the Senator's earlier question about the need for engagement with industry stakeholders. My view is slightly different from Professor O'Neill's in this regard. The service providers certainly seem to be very well disposed to engaging on these matters, but there are question marks around the effectiveness of voluntary codes and self-regulation. The State has a positive duty to ensure children are protected. This issue, which was addressed to a certain extent in the Law Reform Commission report, requires a statutory framework. I share the Senator's view on the problem of childhood obesity. In fact, I dealt with that issue comprehensively in one of my previous rapporteur reports where I described it as a child protection issue. If we look at the emerging situation in Ireland, there is huge potential for a situation where we will see far-ranging consequences for children. Companies exploit children by advertising in a way that is especially attractive to young people, and that can have devastating consequences. I welcome the sugar tax initiative in the budget and was disappointed to hear criticism from some commentators of the measure. This is an important child protection issue and the sugar tax represents the first step in an attempt to regulate a situation in which children may be deeply affected.

On the importance of listening to the voice of the child, I have consistently raised that issue, including in my opening statement today. It is of enormous importance that we hear directly from those who are affected by technology. The Irish people voted to insert Article 42A in the Constitution guaranteeing children a say in decisions likely to affect them. That constitutional provision should permeate all our legislative frameworks. The reality, of course, is that children are often very much more aware of and informed about technology than are their parents. As well as emphasising the role of parents in providing guidance, we must also look to schools, because children spend a large portion of their time there. I am passionately of the view that if we place this issue on the curriculum, where it becomes a core part of what we teach our children, we will bring both parents and children with us. The Senator asked how we might achieve this. We can achieve it by blending it into the school curriculum for children from the youngest possible age. Parents are already alive to some of these issues. It is a challenging question and probably the most important issue raised this morning, that is, how we can educate society about the benefits and downsides of technology. Much of the research in which Professor O'Neill has been involved points to the advantages of the Internet. Article 5 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child is clear about evolving capacities, and we know children can derive significant benefits from the Internet, whether in terms of accessing mental health websites or otherwise. The solution then is not to restrict access but to focus more on education.