David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That was one of the reasons we supported the declaration I mentioned. Parents have primary responsibility to protect their children in the purchase and use of video games, particularly those played online. The declaration to which I referred will serve to alert parents of potential issues and costs involved and encourage them to exercise greater control over purchase decisions. That the Deputy raised the matter will, I hope, highlight to parents that they need to be vigilant about these matters.

Video products are currently regulated under the Video Recordings Act 1989. Video games are exempted works for classification purposes unless they fall within the terms provided for in section 3(1)(a)or (b), which cover the grounds for the prohibition of works. Ireland is part of a pan-European game information, PEGI, system, which is a European-wide rating system for video games, and the director of the Irish Film Classification Office, IFCO, is a member of the council of the PEGI system. It is now normal practice for IFCO to view video games which are rated as 18+ to allow the director of IFCO to form an opinion of whether such games fall within the terms provided in the Video Recordings Act 1989.

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