Mr. John Church:

I will give the angle from the child's perspective. I always cite Childline, which is like a barometer of what it is like to live under the age of 18 years. We listen 24-7, 365 days per year. We constantly get children ringing us about online issues, but they do not say that they are ringing about an online issue, as children do not talk about online or offline. This is the space they are living in and they are active in it every single day of the week. Half the children between six and 18 years of age are online every day, but that figure is 94% for 16 to 18 year olds. This is their life. This is where they are living.

Self-regulation does not and will not work. That ship has sailed. I welcome the Minister's position on this matter, and we would actively support it. In Australia, there is an interesting concept of co-regulation. Getting representatives from the platforms around the table and having an adult and mature conversation is the only way to go. From speaking to the larger platforms, I know that they are spending millions of euro on trying to tackle this, but they were not set up with the express objective of protecting children. They are commercial operations. We are talking about YouTube, Snapchat and Instagram, but this issue extends way beyond them. We are getting calls every day about new games that are launching and apps, including smaller ones, some of which require in-app purchases. To use the Deputy's phrase, it is the Wild West. The only way we can tackle this is through actual regulation. I always use the analogy of how every other form of media that we look at is regulated. Thanks to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, someone cannot put certain images up on television or outdoors. Why are we allowed to do so online?