Dr. Niall Muldoon:

I am afraid I have only seen the headlines, as the Deputy highlighted. I am also very much aware that this report does not include the years affected by Covid-19. I was contacted by several principals in primary schools who are concerned that they have children aged seven and eight in playgrounds who do not know how to play, share and work together any more. They have to bring them in and teach them so they relearn what they already knew in junior infants but had lost since Covid.

On the mobile devices, that genie is out of the bottle. This is happening. Children are more literate around screens and the phone becomes a part of them. We must move in the other direction of being able to control what they are given in a mobile setting, so that it is not quite a phone but rather a communications device and parents have much more control. This is, however, concerning if it is not properly managed.

As regards sport, for me this is important because of engagement with other people. Young people are not engaging in the same way at home. They are not learning how to have fights at home and to make up and they are not learning how to trust each other and how to hold and let go of grudges and discuss. Again, this is what dinner tables have often done. It can be where people can have their biggest rows but also where they make up the best. When children are aged eight, nine or ten, their brother is the worst person in the world until five minutes later when he hands over an extra sausage and all of a sudden, things have changed. There are these aspects. Society is changing in a way that is harmful at times, but there are also many other positives we must look at as well. We need to ensure we engage with that. From my perspective, as the Ombudsman for Children, we have seen great progress made in children's rights but there are always new challenges coming down the line as society changes.