Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We know that Internet usage by young Irish people is quite high. The Internet offers huge opportunities for young people and for everyone else and we do not want to over-emphasise the dangers. We also want to emphasise the opportunities it affords. Information is emerging on the scale of online bullying and general research is suggesting that young people need - as with learning to drive a car- to have information, education and support in using the Internet. Increasingly we are finding that young people are posting information to the web which is then shared widely and which becomes problematic at a later stage. They need to realise that everything that goes online is effectively publicly available. Last year I met representatives from Scotland Yard regarding some very disturbing trends whereby material that young people are posting to the Internet is being used by people involved in trafficking and other illegal activities. We need to inform and educate young people so that they can make the very best use of what can be a wonderful resource. They need to be very aware, as do their parents, of the potential downsides.

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