Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to come back to the digital age of consent of 16 years. I have a great deal of respect for Deputy Daly as a parliamentarian but she has scurrilously discredited one of the people arguing for a digital age of consent of 16 years in her contribution. She said everyone agreed with her. Then, she presented one substantive argument to the effect that people who are 13, 14 or 15 years of age will be locked out of the applications but they have a right to those applications. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of the marketplace. It assumes that if WhatsApp or an educational software platform decides only to provide for those aged 16 years and upwards, then those aged 13, 14 and 15 years will not quickly have access to similar products designed for them. That is simply not the case. Let us suppose we were having an argument about whether we should have an age of eligibility to buy alcohol. The argument would be that we should not set the age at 18 years but at 13 years because we do not want children to lie about their age. The thinking is that if the age limit is set at 18 years, then no drinks will be offered that are appropriate to those aged 13 or 14 years. That is the analogy and it simply does not stack up.

It is all well and good standing up under privilege, as Deputy Daly has done, and making serious allegations about someone who, for the very best of reasons, is advocating an age of consent of 16 years. It is easy to stand up under Dáil privilege and make the kind of accusations Deputy Daly has made but the only substantive argument she made was that younger children will be locked out. They will not. Therefore, the digital age of consent of 16 years should stand. I believe it is the right thing to do.

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