Mr. Declan Daly:

The Senator is correct. Children are very important and their views are very important. We can do what we can and we can give talks and lectures. I do not know how successful it would be if it was a group of children doing that. We are looking at an initiative with transition year students with the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. We will empower them with the knowledge and as part of their transition year programme they will go back to their class and impart that information peer-to-peer. We are very supportive of that. A number of schools have indicated they will do the testing. It will take time to develop because we have to be sure we are getting the right message across and that there is permission from parents. It is something we are working on with the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

We are also very active with Webwise. It has a number of information streams on its website for different ages and for parents. That is also important. There are a number of other organisations. One does not have to be totally internet proficient to go and find them. One can get the information quite easily whether it is for a parent, a six year old or a teenager. It is all there.

The Senator mentioned child-to-child pornography and grooming. The Garda Síochána, when we are dealing with this crime type, is not here to criminalise children for taking images. It is for somebody who posts an image online. The role of An Garda Síochána is not to criminalise that child; it is to support the child. We introduced an initiative with Tusla about two years ago with regard to self-taken images. There is a co-ordinated approach. The committee can imagine the shock if a child posts an image online or sends a naked picture to somebody who the child believes is in America or some other jurisdiction and that he or she is sending it to that person in a closed environment and it is then on fire online. The committee can imagine the shock for that family and child when we go to that house. We have a co-ordinated approach with Tusla. An Garda Síochána deals with the criminal element to make sure there are no other issues in the home. Tusla operates on the welfare side. It has been a very successful initiative to deal with that. It is very shocking for them.

On child-to-child pornography, the issue is education. We have had cases where images are circulated in schools. In many of the cases we have had like that, the schools have been excellent. They come in strong, which is very important. There is a message there. A child who holds a pornographic image of another child is committing an offence. Children need to be educated about that. There are problems there for that child especially if they distribute the photo.