Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and this Government's focus on online safety. It is one of the most pressing issues for families today and it demands urgent action. I am a mum to two eight-year-old girls and I know the joy of their current world. It is a world of innocence, imagination and security but I already feel the worry of what lies ahead, including the phones, the apps, the group chats, the comparisons, the silence, and the stories we have heard here today. Like so many parents, I worry about what they will see before they are ready. I worry about their confidence, mental health, and self-worth and I worry about who might reach them when I cannot. My fears were confirmed recently when speaking to a children's psychologist who told me that the impact of social media is now a dominant theme in her work. She sees the consequences every day in the lives of her young patients, with anxiety, isolation and pressure that no child should have to carry. She implored me to do something.

Offline, we protect our children through law and shared responsibility. Online, that same level of protection has not kept pace. Fine Gael's online safety report survey found that parents are calling for stronger age verification, real enforcement, better education, and proper support for them and their families. It is not about banning technology but about balance and responsibility. Platforms have to play their part. Social media can be positive and creative but the risks are not accidental. The algorithms are built into the systems that reward constant attention and comparison. We experience this ourselves. The principle must be simple. The online world must be as safe as the offline world. If something is unsafe in a shop or in a playground, it is removed, and the Internet cannot remain the great exception. Our children deserve to be as safe on-screen as they are in the street, in school or in their home.

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