Dr. Geoffrey Shannon:

I have two points. I agree with the point on crèches, and it is a very important one. The point I have been trying to articulate in terms of inculcating good practice is, the younger, the better. It is not just an education issue but also a profound child protection issue. One of the issues I have consistently articulated is that online grooming is a real vulnerability. If children are gaining access to material online, there is the potential for them to be exploited. The earlier we educate children on the vulnerabilities, in addition to the opportunities, associated with the Internet, the more successful we will be in preventing cyberbullying and cyberharassment. There are all interlinked.

With regard to the digital safety commissioner, I strongly endorse the recommendation of the Law Reform Commission on this issue. My vision for the future is that the digital safety commissioner will take the lead. We need somebody to take the lead on this issue. There is a real opportunity associated with establishing an office designated to deal with this issue. It would be a society-wide approach rather than a sectoral approach. My vision is that the digital safety commissioner will liaise with the Data Protection Commissioner and all the other bodies.

At a previous meeting of this committee, I talked about inter-agency co-operation. We need one lead agency rolling out the vision. That should be supplemented by a strategy on cyber safety or online safety that would be relevant for the education sector. We need a comprehensive and cohesive response. That needs to be led by the Department of Education and Skills and it needs to identify an appropriate curriculum for each level of education, from crèches onwards. We have seen a very significant expansion in State funding for crèches. The other side is that there is now an opportunity for the State to insist this issue be addressed at crèche level and then at primary and secondary levels. Then we would have a whole-of-education response to this issue.