Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 9, line 32, to delete “section 139ZZ(1)” and substitute “section 139ZZH(1)”.

The purpose of this group of amendments is to make provision in the Bill for an individual complaints mechanism, as recommended by the online safety expert group in its comprehensive report. When I established the expert group earlier this year I made it clear that if it was feasible to introduce an individual complaints mechanism, I would provide for it in the Bill. That is what I am proposing to do with these amendments. The expert group has done its work and has given detailed consideration to the wide range of issues raised in the context of an individual complaints mechanism, including through a public consultation and engagement with experts such as the Australian e-safety commissioner. The expert group’s report and recommendations chart a practical way forward for the introduction of an individual complaints mechanism, focused on operationalising the mechanism on a phased basis and firstly for children. These amendments were drafted on the basis of the heads contained in the expert group’s report and they hew closely to the expert group’s recommendations, save for necessary legal adjustments by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel.

In this regard, amendment No. 118 provides for the substantive provisions for the phasing in and operation of an individual complaints mechanism, including how an coimisiún can make schemes for complaints about various kinds of harmful online content; the threshold that must be met before an coimisiún will handle a complaint; the kinds of resolutions for complaints available to an coimisiún; a requirement for an coimisiún to set out a plan for operationalising these provisions; and a requirement for an coimisiún to prioritise operationalising the individual complaints mechanism for children in the first instance.

The remainder of the amendments in this grouping - amendments Nos. 2 to 4, inclusive, 43, 82, 108, 118 to 120, inclusive, 124 to 128, inclusive, 130 to 136, inclusive, 146, 148 to 256, inclusive, 258 to 264, inclusive, 266 to 269, inclusive, 272 to 292, inclusive, 317 and 318 - are consequential to amendment No. 118 and relate to the necessary renumbering of sections throughout the Bill to account for the insertion of amendment No. 118.