Mary Moran (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Cyberbullying and the use of social media has become a topic of debate in recent years. We have had numerous debates on the issue in the Seanad. I have participated in many local talks and attended the launch of many initiatives to deal with the issue of cyberbullying.

In recent weeks it has been brought to my attention that people are having great difficulty in making complaints to Twitter about cyberbullying. I am aware of one person who made a complaint to Twitter on three occasions in the past week regarding offensive and personal comments being made on the site. As of this afternoon the person has not received any reply to the complaint.

We encourage children and adults to report abusive behaviour to the site they are using, but if the site does not engage in a timely manner or, in this instance, does not reply at all, how can we ever hope to reduce the instances of cyberbullying? If someone reports a violation to Twitter she should receive an acknowledgement of the complaint and a follow-up e-mail as soon as possible. Having come forward, people should not still be waiting over one week later. I call for a debate again on ensuring that the processes are in place for when people, unfortunately, have to make complaints to Twitter.

On a lighter note, I thank everyone and praise Special Olympics Ireland, which held various polar plunges over the weekend. I was delighted to take part in one such event in County Louth and I thank everyone involved. Everyone here gave me great words of encouragement and support ahead of the event. It was great to see so many people taking an interest in the lives of people with a disability as well as encouraging and doing what we can for them.

Last week in the Seanad I raised this issue of the "Prime Time" programme to be broadcast tonight on the dreadful abuse in Swinford. I asked the Leader for a debate on the matter. I call on him again to have a debate on this issue as soon as possible after tonight's programme.

Having listened to and seen the reports about it on the radio and television this morning, even before the programme is aired, a debate on this issue is really necessary.