Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael)
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I was curious about how the panel was made up and how long it was serving. I am glad to know this is something that is working. Again, we should probably have an advisory panel as a committee as well, and why not? It seems bizarre we would speak about children and young people and not actually hear from them.

I am a little bit ashamed that we are four years in, and although this is not the first time we have engaged with young people, it is from that perspective that we can gain from their experience. Clearly, the witnesses have a very high level of experience. The manner in which they went about their questionnaires is just incredibly impressive. That is really a template; I took notes as they were speaking.

I have an eight-year-old, and one of my convictions with her was to teach her a sense of consent from the moment she was a baby and that she was not obliged to share her toys. That was not something I felt she should have to do if she did not want to. They were her toys, and while we would encourage her to share things and be generous and not be totally selfish, there were a load of things about that sense of "This is mine" - my autonomy, my body, what I think. All those things to me have been very important. I am hoping that by the time she starts edging up a little bit more, we broaden our conversations to include the sort of consent we are talking about here today.

I was very taken by Alicia's contribution when she said that we do patronise. There is something about the idea that the age of sexual consent is 17, so really it is only when people are coming towards that, but we actually need to be aware of that all the time. As I said, my personal conviction is about that idea that even babies have agency and the right to say "No", and it is something we need to be encouraging. That is just me and my parenting style. It does not mean we do not correct her, but it is important for her nos to mean no from the very beginning. Then, when her no is really important, she will have the power and autonomy to be able to enforce it.

We have touched on AI, but I am curious. Recently I had an experience where a 16-year-old, my goddaughter, was advising my daughter on smartphones and social media. She kept saying that she had got hers too young and that it just brings a load of trouble. It had brought a load of trouble. I am curious to know the views of the witnesses on smartphones and age. The digital age of consent is 16, yet we hear from CyberSafeKids that children have smartphones from as young as six and that just shy of 50% of them are in bedrooms on their own with their smartphones at the age of ten. I have heard everything the witnesses have said regarding AI and the access it has. It is a very wise point. I am curious to know the views of the witnesses. Would they allow their children to have a smartphone and, if so, at what age? I would also like to know their views on social media.