Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Professor O'Sullivan. When answering the second question Dr. Ryan might also have an input on this as well. We refer to the UNICEF report and Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland policy guidance, but it is policy guidance and it is not law. The UNICEF recommendations are not law they are only recommendations. As a parent whose kids are not yet at the age where they have smart phones I know I speak for thousands. They are avid readers, thank goodness, but it is only a matter of time before they procure smart phones and God knows what kind of content. As a parent one wants to absolutely regulate that. I want a body of law behind me protecting me as a parent and giving us as parents protections in knowing that we are not in the battle alone as parents and that the law will be on our side when we want to take these guys on. How do we shift from guidelines on protecting kids to ensuring we have robust laws? We live on an island where nine of the top ten born-on-the Internet companies are. They have an EMEA presence here and are IDA Ireland-backed companies. I sometimes think there is a bit of a trade-off there between the amount of jobs they create and perhaps successive Governments sitting on the fence a little with the regulation and content because we do not want to compromise that inward investment. We are now, however, moving to a time where we need robust laws. I am seeking comfort here on how we can legislate. Will the recommended algorithm piece of work to be done by the commission actually be robust enough to deal with this?