Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 25 October 2017
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs
Cybersecurity: Discussion (Resumed)
9:30 am
Mr. Declan Daly:
The prevention side is very important to us. We do not want this type of crime occurring in our communities. It falls into two categories: education and awareness, which are key; and the more proactive initiatives, such as blocking, as mentioned by the assistant commissioner in his opening statement. In education and awareness, we are heavily involved with the NGO sector, for example, with Sport Ireland and the GAA, to enable their members impart the message of the dangers present on the Internet to parents and children. We are very proactive in passing this message to the communities. We give media interviews to get the message out. It is exceptionally important to us to send the message that the Internet is a valuable tool but that it has inherent dangers which children and parents need to be aware of. We work very closely with Webwise. We are involved in the Internet safety day on 6 February. That is all important to keep sending the message that children need to be safe, and what they need to do to be safe, on the Internet at a high and strategic level. On the other side, there is our detection and enforcement work.