Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and I appreciate the spirit in which he has raised it, which represents an effort to get us to respond collectively. Government and Opposition have done really good work collectively on some big issues, climate action, housing and other social changes that I am glad to say this country has managed to deliver in recent years. This is another one but it is a very difficult issue to get right. That is why the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton, has been very clear in speeches he has made about his commitment to introducing new legislation in this area. The Government's view is that the days of self-regulation online are over and that states now need to get involved in putting in place appropriate levels of regulation to ensure we can protect vulnerable people, particularly children. Media coverage of events that have happened in the past few days are a reminder of that but it has been an issue for some years. Any parent in this Chamber is more than aware of the dangers of allowing a child to even use his or her mobile phone.

The State needs to respond but this is an international challenge that lots of countries are grappling with. The Minister has opened up a consultation process for stakeholders on a series of questions with a view to trying to bring forward comprehensive legislation. I do not think he will be concerned whether Deputy Ó Laoghaire's Bill is used as the basis for that or whether it is new legislation. This is a cross-party issue. We would welcome the input of others who have been working on this. We worked with Deputy Howlin on the Bill he produced and the Government has shown a willingness not to get party political about who brings forward the legislation. The issue is that we have to get it right. Rather than try to get this done before the summer without perhaps having as broad a consultation as necessary to get it right, we need a slightly longer timeframe to consult with all the political parties, non-governmental organisations, NGOs, academics and industry interests involved in this area in order that we can by the end of the year bring forward legislation sponsored by the Government but supported, I hope, by many other parties.

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