Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all who have come here this morning. A lot of my questions have been asked, including one on advertising and how it relates to children. I will focus on what has come up in recent weeks. We have had Dr. Geoffrey Shannon in to the committee, and we various bodies such as Webwise, all of which Facebook said it is working with.

I note a key recommendation in the report of the Internet content governance advisory group of 2014 suggested that Internet safety and digital literacy skills would be taught as a core element of the curriculum, both at primary and post-primary levels. These recommendations were echoed by Dr. Geoffrey Shannon. I would love to hear the views of witnesses on a digital safety commissioner or how one would go about it.

It is also important for those looking at this meeting to note that the witnesses did not come empty-handed. They came with their anti-bullying activism on Facebook. They also brought us Safety@Facebook. These are fantastic tools for the public, be it the mammies, daddies, teachers or whoever is watching, and for them to realise that there are tools to assist them.

I will ask all my questions together and then the witnesses can come back in. A few minutes ago, Ms Sweeney touched on the Diana award. I would have been a huge follower of Diana and I went straight in to see what that was about. It was to show us the 200 schools which participated. It is a peer-to-peer grouping. When I read through it, I saw Newbridge College and Sharnbrook Upper School there. I would love Ms Sweeney to explain how anti-bullying activism works. In one of the comments, the teacher in Newbridge stated:

I think some school staff can sometimes be a bit dubious about using Facebook in an educational setting as they are nervous about using Facebook to communicate with students. However using a peer-led scheme like this one is a great way to reach students, considering the amount of time they spend online these days.

I ask Ms Sweeney to explain what this is all about. Maybe there are more schools that could buy in to this process. The children are on social platforms but if we could educate them better, it would be fantastic.

In her detailed report, Ms Sweeney also speaks about everybody she works with in the teams on Facebook and the teams on advertising. Ms Sweeney has already referenced the ISPCC. She referenced SpunOut, Jigsaw and everything else. However, there was one glaring omission, namely, the Department of Education and Skills. I need to know if Facebook is working with the Department of Education and Skills, whether it plans to do so in the future, or how does Facebook feed into its policy? Has Facebook met the Department in the past 12 months?

Another matter that arose from Dr. Geoffrey Shannon was the takedown policy. Perhaps Ms Sweeney could tell us about the takedown policy, particularly for teen photographs. Ms Sweeney might have addressed it already. She might tell us specifically how they can go about getting it taken down. Parents would also want to know that for their children. They need to be the support for the child who has found himself or herself in that position. It is so that everyone is aware and educated.

Believe it or not, Facebook is one of our best assets and I will tell the representatives why. Since I was elected to Dáil Éireann, something I give out about regularly is the poor ICT information available where I am gathering data. Facebook probably has all of that information on the age profile of people and what they are looking at. Facebook has a whole background team. It could work well with the various Departments, such as the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment and the Department of Justice and Equality. Facebook can give us that information in order that we can develop policies and build on the legislation that is coming through, because we do not have all that information. That is where Facebook is one of our best assets. We need to access Facebook from that point of view. If Facebook is in a position to continue working with the various Departments, it would be appreciated.