Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

In early 2023, the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, said that parents know best when it comes to banning youngsters from social media or imposing phone restrictions. That was in response to touted legislation in the UK that was less stringent than the Australian model being touted. However, teachers, who see the impact first hand in the classrooms, will beg to differ. The Tánaiste, the original TikTok Taois, as he has been called, said last year as well as today that the era of social media giants regulating themselves is over, so I understand how seriously he takes this, but let us regulate them. If we cannot protect our children adequately, we have to make sure they live safer lives by banning use. If you start at 16, it might help the 12- or 13-year-olds. Maybe a citizens' convention on this issue could be held. There are risks, of course, that some will go to the dark web or use VPNs to circumvent restrictions if what we do is not sufficient, but we need to show leadership rather than hide behind laborious EU initiatives. We brought in the smoking ban; why can we not get moving on a ban on social media as well?

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