Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests. I was delighted to meet a group of parents and kids at the front gates of Leinster House a couple of hours ago. They were there as part of the Irish Heart Foundation campaign to protect children from digital junk food marketing. I compliment the foundation on that campaign and say "Well done" to the parents and kids involved.

I met Ms Walsh some months ago at an event during which I made the point as part of my presentation that children are a vulnerable group who have the right to protection from advertising due to their limited capacity to critically understand advertising and marketing practices. It is our responsibility to ensure the Bill protects vulnerable children. I refer to a presentation entitled "Who is feeding the kids online?", which involved the first ever research carried out in Europe on the tactics used by junk food marketers. It was endorsed by the WHO and exposed that micro-targeting and profiling methods similar to those that were subsequently shown to have been used by Cambridge Analytica are being used to target kids across a range of products, whether it is junk food or other products. In this case, it is junk food.

There is a responsibility on us to react to this. A couple of weeks ago, I asked the representatives of Twitter, Facebook and TikTok about bullying and whether they would fund, through the Department of Education, a promotional campaign in schools in the context of online bullying. Would the witnesses like to see those companies contribute towards health promotion in schools in the context of a lot of this advertising that is going on?

Senator Cassells referred to free bets. I agree with him 100% in that regard. They should be banned. Any sort of free bet or free burger or whatever it may be should not be allowed. Ms Twomey referred to adults but it is easy for a 12-year-old to buy a paper for €1 to get a free bet worth €10 or €5 or whatever it may be. I would fully support that practice being banned.

I welcome her comments with regard to complaints not being made only to the platforms. There has to be an independent board or independent people through the media commission who will take complaints as well.

Ms Walsh referred to the watershed ban and the fact that the BAI will be subsumed into the media commission. Will she look for that ban to be extended to 9 p.m.? Children's time is up until 6 p.m. but family time is between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. and that is where marketers are targeting many of their advertisements. A report compiled in respect of a 30-minute period showed there were nine junk food advertisements on television during family time but only 1% of adverts promoted fruit and vegetables. The facts are there and we need to take action.