Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The witnesses are very welcome. In my three years in the Oireachtas probably the busiest piece of work we were involved in was the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act. I firmly believe that it is some of the most important legislation that has gone through the Houses over the last years. I am aware the commission has a broader role, but it has a huge role with online safety for future generations. Other committee members referred to electoral disinformation but the threats of disinformation to our younger generation in particular I see as extremely important. I am the father of three young kids. I am lucky with my eldest lad who is 11 years old. He is the only child in his class who does not have a phone. He is the only lad not on Instagram, Snapchat or anything. With the current population any of the surveys brought out in recent times have indicated that kids as young as eight or nine are on multiple social media pages.

We discussed this in the Seanad where we had 27 hours of debate on Committee Stage of the Bill. We discussed the need to look at putting minimum age requirements on social media accounts. I feel very strongly about this. I believe it should be age 15, at a minimum. When we discussed this, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, spoke on the role of Coimisiún na Meán in that regard, and that the EU was also looking at possibly bringing in EU-wide legislation in relation to it. I do not believe we should wait for EU legislation. We need to do something about it now because we have a generation that will be brought up on their phones with false information. We need to take serious action and Coimisiún na Meán can help with that. This needs to be put forward. I feel very strongly about this, not just as a committee member but also as a parent. We need to put stringent controls in place and put the responsibility on the social media companies to push it. They are making multi-billion euro profits. They should be able to put the security measures in place to stop kids going on social media. That is what their future lives are going to be: stuck in social media rather than in the real world. I would like the witnesses' comments please.