Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the witnesses for coming in this morning, in particular as it is during their school holidays. I am conscious that there is a huge amount of pressure on young people these days in terms of social media, the climate crisis and peer pressure, but it is important that they are informed as well that it is a great time to be alive compared to even 50 or 100 years ago. It is a great time to be a young person growing up. I know that there are a lot of pressure such as the climate crisis and social media, but there were pressures on every generation. One hundred years ago, kids did not have the prospects of health or education the young people before the committee have, so it is a really good time to be alive.

I will ask a question of Ms Sheppard first about the pressure that is on young people when they see social media. From her assessment, do young people believe what they see when they see influencers on social media? What are the pressures on young women or girls from seeing influencers on Instagram and other social media platforms?