Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I endorse what Senator Higgins has been saying. I welcome the definition of a child as a person who is under the age of 18. One of my big problems is that I see around me quite contradictory attitudes towards childhood as a state. As I understand it, one is either a child or an adult. Although it is a somewhat arbitrary point in time, we have fixed the age of 18 as the point at which a child transitions to being an adult. In law, we treat people under the age of 18 as children and a number of points flow from that. Some people are now talking about according the right to vote in local elections, for example, to children. There has been talk about amending the Constitution to allow this to happen. I wonder whether we have a grip on the idea that childhood is a state of presumed vulnerability during which there is a need for special protection. When I occupied the seat that the Minister now occupies in St. Stephen's Green, I recall being constantly amazed by newspaper reports about child refugees. These were people who had travelled halfway across the world, unaccompanied minors, who suddenly were "children". The media rightly said that they needed special protection. Sometimes they disappeared off the radar screen and the Minister for Justice and Equality of the day was effectively under the spotlight in terms of what had happened to these "children". We have protections for children relating to the purchase of alcohol and even to national lottery tickets. We have many protections in place for children. I do not know whether it is still the case but when I was a youngster, one was allowed to bet on the tote. There are people who think that is wrong and is introducing youngsters to gambling at an inappropriate age.

We must be philosophically consistent about the distinction between childhood and adulthood and about where the age of majority starts and the period of childhood ends. In that context, I welcome the Minister's amendment. It is worthwhile stating where childhood ends as far as Irish law is concerned in the context of data protection. Moreover, as Senator Higgins has argued, it is all very well identifying childhood for the purposes of the regulation but we should look to some of the protections that the United Kingdom has provided for children in its legislation. While I commend the Minister's amendment and have no problem with it, I believe we should go further. We should actually flesh out some of these protections in Irish law. As Senator Higgins has said, if we are going to give children special rights or acknowledge their special entitlement to protection as a result of the language of the regulation, then we should actually put flesh and bones on that in Irish law. If a child wants to exercise the right to be forgotten, for instance, he or she should have a clear and simple way to achieve that.

I remember a situation where someone set up a fake Facebook account in my name and I discovered that I supported the Occupy Dame Street protest, which Members will be glad to hear. It caused some consternation, with my friends saying that what they always had assumed about my sanity had now been proven to be true. However, when I decided that I wanted this Facebook page to be taken down and tried to assert my own right not to be portrayed as favouring the aforementioned campaign, I had real difficulty in getting Facebook to listen to me. The company would not deal with me at all until I produced photocopies of my passport, affidavits and statutory declarations to say that I was who I claimed to be. One wonders, in that context, if is fair that multinational companies could demand of a child things that he or she simply cannot do. We have to have very simple remedies and procedures to enable children to protect themselves. They should not have to go to a solicitor to vindicate their rights, as I had to do in order to engage with Facebook and get it to remove my messages of support for the Occupy Dame Street protest. While I could see the funny side of it, I did not know what I was next going to support before I closed down the account.

Senator Higgins is right to say that it is all very well to define childhood but that we should go a few steps further and begin to examine ways in which we can provide in our law and our implementation of the regulation some very clear and concise methods by which children can protect themselves. We must also provide in law for their parents or guardians to be able to come to their assistance and to bring about genuine protection for them. It has been argued that one of the mistakes that was made with regard to the banking regime was that of approaching things on a point of principle. I accept that was a mistake at the time.Now we should go further than mere statement of what is a child for the purpose of the regulation in Irish law and provide protections for children. This is without prejudice completely to the next amendment.