Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have acknowledged that there are people in this debate who favour having 13 as the digital age of consent and I have listened to them respectfully. In the GDPR the default age is 16. There is no argument about raising the digital age of consent, but the proposal from the Government, supported by Independents 4 Change and some other Deputies, is that we would reduce the age to 13. The truth is that there is very little evidence that one age is better than another. The precautionary approach must be that we would go for the highest age, which is the standard age favoured by Germany, the Netherlands and many other countries because that is the default age in the GDPR. The GDPR requirement for parental consent for processing does not apply to preventative or counselling services, so the concerns that have been raised by some in terms of whether children will be able to get access to the services they need in that regard is not an issue. That is covered by the GDPR and it is covered by the legislation.

There is also a review built into the legislation that the Minister introduced relating to the age of 13, and that is welcome but it could also apply to the age of 16 so that if there are unintended consequences, there would be a review. That is welcome and it must happen. There is very little empirical evidence on either side and the position that we have taken is to take the precautionary approach, namely, to opt for the standard, which is the older age. This is about the processing of data and the profiling of data subjects who happen to be children. It is not about giving them access to services online. That is the truth of it. That has been conflated and it is wrong simply to take the approach to this debate of a child's right to participate when we are not discussing the child's right to participate. We are merely discussing-----

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