Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the representatives' opening statement and the conversation they have just had with Deputy Neville around education, Dr. Aiken has said that education in this regard has failed. Deputy Neville has highlighted the fact that it is deficient. I do not believe that deficiency is a failure but, as a parent and as a legislator, I believe that the basic principle behind all of this is that we are woefully ill-equipped to deal with the ongoing issues of online security, bullying and everything else associated with the matter. This applies to adults and to the current generation coming through.

Last week a young lady, I believe she is 16 or 17 years old, was sitting in the same seat as Dr. Aiken is sitting in now. I asked her about the possible ban. I was not aware that she had studied in France but she chimed in and told the committee that she had spent three months there and she had a very interesting insight into the ban on phones for young students there. Senator Noone touched on the issue earlier and Dr. Aiken has referred to it also; bans are crude instruments that invariably do not work. The bans will not capture everybody and usually the individuals who find a way around it are often the ones who require the most assistance.

I do not want to be pernickety about these things but as he is a member of the Garda I wish to make a correction; it is appropriate to say that Assistant Commissioner Pat Leahy did not criticise Government policy. He lamented the fact that there was a deficiency in legislation with regard to a particular case. He did not, as stated in theIrish Mirror, slam the Government. I would never rely upon it for a quote. That is a personal observation. I am of the view there is a massive deficiency in criminal law and criminal justice around the grooming of children. This has also been referenced a number of times by Dr. Geoffrey Shannon and by the Law Reform Commission. Some of these deficiencies have been highlighted to the committee already and the witnesses' contribution to the debate today has been excellent in that regard. I thank the witnesses for that. From my perspective, however, and to go back to the educational aspect, a figure of some 80% of parents did not have a clue what their teenagers or their younger children were up to online. This is a societal failing and a failing of our education system. It was suggested that there be mandatory requirements for programmes to be introduced to third level training for teachers at primary, second and probably even third level where first and second year students are still in their teens and exposed to the sort of environment the witnesses have described over the past 90 minutes. Dr. Aiken and Professor O'Sullivan will most likely agree that this is a very important part of the solution. I will not call it the antidote because it is a sticking plaster in terms of what we have to face in the future around criminal acts and the deficiencies as mentioned.

Reference was made to distorted images and how image distortion can have a major effect on self-esteem. The geolocation aspect, however, is quite insidious. There are a number of apps that do this, Snapchat being one which is probably the most high profile. I am sure there have been examples the witnesses have studied and come across in their own fields where individuals will have used their geolocation. How significant a threat is this from a predatorial perspective and from a psychoanalytical aspect with regard to determining where an individual is located and preying on the person based on the geography? I acknowledge it is not just an issue in this State because I am aware that both of the witnesses' studies have extended well beyond the Republic of Ireland.