Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

That is correct, and I shall be looking to ComReg to do that because this is a very dangerous area, where children can be exposed to extremely violent games at a young age and assume this is some type of normal behavioural pattern. It is an area of enormous challenge for ComReg. I was genuinely surprised at my children. I assumed I was facing into a series of very expensive pay-as-you-go top-up bills, but the main reason mobiles are being used in my children's case - and in the case of many others, I believe - is to swap and exchange games of one type or another through the bluetooth connection and to download them. As technology emerges in the future, that will be a major area of concern for parents and children and ComReg would be well advised to focus on it. We hope that whatever ComReg and the industry do in their consultations together will address this issue to avoid problems down the line.

I thank the Deputies and reassure them that we shall be open to accepting amendments on Committee Stage. I do not want to relegate them as being insubstantial, although I believe that inference may be taken from the script where I said we were not envisaging substantial amendments. However, if through the ingenuity and interest of the Deputies opposite, and in recognition of the hard work of the committee already in this area, there are significant issues they believe can and should be addressed by this Bill, then we shall do so. As regards the technical point raised by Deputy McManus, the reason for the delay is that the draft amendment is still with the Attorney General and that is why she has not had sight of it. However, we shall bring that to her attention. Again, if there are specific detailed issues which Deputies want clarified before we get to Committee Stage, they should feel free to contact us and we will try to clear up any details.

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