Máire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for missing the initial presentation. We were launching a children's mental health document, and after a lot of online abuse, children will be in need of it. An observation is we were very innocent when we started off with mobile phones and then Bebo came along. Does anyone remember Bebo? Then there was an explosion of communication possibilities. I give out about it because people have ways to get us do stuff for them. For our children perhaps it is part of their day, but for me it is a bit overwhelming at times because every and each way we turn, social media has us and we are sucked into it and we have to do it.

The digital safety commission is a must do and we must deal with all of these different ways of communication and potential harm for our children. I want to ask about harmful material, stalking and grooming. If the perpetrator is a child according to law, and this varies in different Departments, will the full wrath of the law come down on that child? Will that record follow him or her in perpetuity and affect his or her job and career possibilities? Will it have a long-term impact or will children have the sealed records that are de rigueurin other areas?

We spoke about the statutory system in place in Australia. Does the child need his or her adult guardian to follow this through? This is a big stumbling block because many children will not report it if they must tell their parents or guardian what they have been doing online, although they are feeling guilty about it and know inside somehow it is really wrong. The stumbling block is whether they want to own up to their parents that something is going on. They will be thinking about how much trouble they will get into and that their pocket money will be gone. There are also other serious measures, such as being told they must stay at home and not go out. This is important to children. It might not be important to us because we have the ability to come and go. Must an adult start the process which the witnesses envisage might be useful here?

Upskirting was mentioned and there was a recent case in England. What law did it come under? A woman successfully prosecuted and got a mobile phone taken off a man. These were young 20 year old adults and it happened at a festival in England. She was on the radio about two months ago discussing it. I cannot remember what aspects of that law were involved. Do we have such a law here? Perhaps the witnesses do not know but I ask them to think about it.

Gambling is a big issue and children are targeted online. Is this considered in the report? It is probably a bit off the mark, but through games children's brains are being fed with the thrill of the chase and the gamble.