Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----put forward by Senator Ruane.

I will ask that we revisit this, in the spirit in which I believe the debate has been held. I very much value the comments made by Senators and the contributions over the past couple of hours. It is a long time since I was in a debate where three amendments took in excess of two hours or more. I welcome this because it is testament to the importance of the issue to hand. In this spirit, I ask Senators Higgins and Ruane not to push the amendments and we will give the matter further consideration. Perhaps we will even bolster these amendments with additional child protection safeguards. I will come back to this. I very much agree that data companies of course have a greater level of responsibility. That appears evident at present. Efforts should be made on our part to render them even more accountable. This is in line with what Senator Higgins has said regarding further safeguards and protections. We can look at this.

The final point I will make at this stage is on the matter of the overall review of the age of consent that has been mentioned. Down the road assuming, or when, the digital safety commissioner office is established and in a position to draw experience from what is happening, we can certainly consider looking at it at that stage. In any event, we can come back to it on Report Stage.