Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. Children are being exposed to extreme violence, including sexual violence and pornography, and some social media platforms trade on hate and division. That has real implications where people are suggesting, and I do not disagree with them, that there is a very significant experiment with our children and policymakers are very often behind the curve. There is a challenge for all of us. I have quite a cynical view of voluntary codes and poorly accessed resources. I would be interested in the extent to which Webwise's resources are accessed and used because my sense is that it is not massive, and this also applies to the phone pouches.

We need a comprehensive response here and we need media literacy to be embedded in our education system, from the cradle to grave. The Minister is well placed to do this. There are good international examples, such as in Finland. We should absolutely be world leaders. We have lots of tech here and we should lead in this space.

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