Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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2. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the steps An Coimisiún na Meán is taking to promote and enforce safety on social media and combat online harms, with particular regard to vulnerable groups such as children and vulnerable adults; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [64384/25]

Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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Last week during Questions on Policy or Legislation, the Tánaiste mentioned that the Minister was preparing proposals around online safety to bring before the House and expected to introduce them by the end of the year. I am keen to hear about the details of that, in particular the role for Coimisiún na Meán and how people will be protected and whether those protections will extend beyond those under 16 years of age.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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Online safety is a key Government priority. We have taken major steps forward in recent years and with Coimisiún na Meán the heart of our online safety framework, we have the tools to improve online safety, in particular for children and vulnerable adults. The online safety framework comprises the online safety code, the EU Digital Services Act, DSA, under which An Coimisiún na Meán is Ireland's digital services co-ordinator, and the EU Terrorist Content Online Regulation, for which An Coimisiún na Meán is a competent authority. The online safety code applies to designated video-sharing platforms established in Ireland, including TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and X, and Part B of the code contains specific obligations to put in place robust age assurance to prevent children from accessing adult content such as pornography or extreme violence. An Coimisiún na Meán is supervising compliance by designated services with the code. As digital services co-ordinator under the DSA, An Coimisiún na Meán works with the European Commission to ensure platforms put in place the systems and processes required to minimise the risk of exposure of children and young adults to illegal and harmful online content. The European Commission is investigating certain platforms with regard to their algorithms and the "rabbit hole" effect. Failure to adequately fulfil obligations under the DSA can lead to significant financial sanctions and continued non-compliance can lead to criminal sanctions for senior management under the OSMR.

Alongside this, I am working across Government to support robust age verification. In doing so, we must seek to ensure interoperability and respect users' rights, including data protection rights. To that end, my officials are working with the Government’s Chief Information Officer and his office to look at practical technical solutions to age verification as part of the Government's digital wallet being developed using MyGovID. In addition, European Union member states are examining the so-called “digital age of majority” and Ireland is doing likewise.

I believe that any decision would be better taken by the EU and EU member states together but there are differing views on whether there should be an age of digital majority at all and, if there is one, what age it should be, or whether it should be an outright ban or a ban subject to parental consent.

Finally, the upcoming digital fairness Act seeks to tackle dark patterns and unethical techniques or commercial patterns on social media platforms. I will continue to work across government and with stakeholders to improve online safety.

Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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I thank the Minister. I have concerns. For a start, the focus being entirely on children and vulnerable people risks leaving behind the rest of the population. I am hearing more and more about age verification being a silver bullet to resolve everything. I have huge concerns about age verification, even if it is robust. It raises major privacy issues in that it would hand over official documentation to providers that have already proven that they do not respect our privacy. It has a cut-off point, which means that those who are not using age verification remain on a much darker Internet without those protections. We need algorithms turned off by default.

The Minister referenced EU law and said that is the best place to deal with this, but even this week we have seen rollbacks on the GDPR and potential rollbacks on the AI Act. I am not comforted that the EU level of action around this is adequate. We have a specific role to play, given that so many tech companies are headquartered here.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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We have had extensive engagement in the Department on this, in particular in the context of Ireland's Presidency of the EU Council in the second half of next year. I am very conscious of the complexities of the issue and the fact that Deputy Gibney has raised an issue regarding age verification. How do we verify someone's age without having a data set that we know is verifiable? If someone says they are not prepared to hand over a data set, how can a person's age be verified? This is a very serious issue. In order to protect a child, we must have robust and strong data that shows he or she is over 18. If the Deputy is now saying that a person's rights with regard to their privacy trumps a child's age online, that is the start of a very big problem in the House.

Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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I am not saying that age verification cannot be used. Rather, I am telling the Minister that if it is used, it raises privacy concerns. My point is that it is not fixing the actual problem at the root because all of that nasty material remains online. We need to have recommender systems turned off by default because they are the issue. They are the things keeping our eyeballs on screens and making sure polarisation is driving clickbait and profit lines. There are fundamental ways in which these tech platforms need to be challenged that I do not see demonstrated by the Government.

We had an exchange in committee a number of months ago where the Minister mentioned that he had raised age verification with tech companies. When I asked him about this, we discussed raising the issue of platforms as publishers, for example, as a way to start examining much more stringent and clearer ways in which we can build guidelines and safety standards into the online world that mirror what we expect in the real world. That is what we are looking for in order to address these problems at the root.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I am glad to inform the House that I inhabit the real world and most of the parents, teachers and people in the real world I speak to are concerned about children online and age verification. While Deputy Gibney might not think it is as important an issue as I do, as I said at committee it is important. Deputy Ó Snodaigh will recall that the last time we had to use the Government's data set for a particular piece of legislation, it floundered because some interest groups outside of the House were more interested in privacy than other issues and they got their way. The question of which is more important, privacy or the protection of children online, will be a difficult and salient one for the House. That is a question we will have to answer as a House soon because I will have to bring forward proposals, along with my colleagues the Ministers for public expenditure and reform and Social Protection. I hope all parties support that.