Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Mitchell specifically mentioned Tusla, to which I referred in my opening remarks. From our perspective, children need to be protected online and offline, both of which are real worlds for them. Issues in terms of Internet and cyberbullying and so on emerge in the context of much of the work currently being carried out by Tusla. It is part of the work carried out with families by the staff of Tusla.

As I also referenced in my opening remarks, oversight of the implementation of recent legislation such as the Children First Act 2015, and mandatory reporting in particular, continues to be supported across Government through an interdepartmental implementation group. In that context, I anticipate that the issue of Internet safety, which has a child protection dimension and requires cross-Government collaboration, will be raised and dealt with in the coming months through those discussions. Much of the work will be done and sent to the Department so that we can consider it as part of the overall consultation.