Mary Ann O'Brien (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support the calls by other Members for a debate on the subject of Internet safety for children. I am not sure whether such a debate with the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources should include the Minister for Education and Skills because this area covers a wide spectrum of our society. It is an area on which we are really and truly ignorant. Most Members will have a child or grandchild under 18. What effects do computer screens have on our children? What is the difference between a child reading a Kindle or reading a book? What are the effects on one's child's values, confidence, self-esteem and behaviour when using social media and posting pictures of themselves on it? What is the effect on a child's self-perception when social media pictures make them ask themselves if another girl is that little bit more beautiful or thinner than them or a boy wonders if another boy is more muscular than him? Then, of course, there is the vile hard pornography that every child these days, unfortunately, gets to see which parents will never know about.

We must have a debate on Internet safety to raise awareness of the issue and educate ourselves - the older generations - because the future of our young human beings and citizens is at risk while none of us really knows with what we are dealing.