Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I congratulate Senator Craughwell on the introduction of this thoughtful and considered legislation. Senator Gallagher has alluded to the size of mobile devices. I reckon that within a generation, children might be born with them chipped into their DNA. It seems to be going that way.

There is no doubt that technology is one of the most pressing child protection issues we face. I often use the term, "A terrible beauty is born". Over the course of just a few years, the use of the Internet has moved from desktop computers which we as parents could keep an eye on in family homes to smartphones which children keep in their pockets for their private use. Smartphones, tablets and Internet access have huge benefits for families and for society. The potential downsides of the use of such technology are quite serious. They involve cyberbullying, the availability of harmful information online and the significant stunting of children's process of moving towards mature socialisation within their communities and within society. There has been a scary decline among children in reading that involves holding real books. Many children are becoming addicted to technology devices.

We know from the Oireachtas report on cybersecurity, in which I was involved as a member of the Joint Committee on Children and Youth Affairs in March of this year, that one in five children has experienced cyberbullying. We are aware that a growing body of work is pointing to the reality that many young children are manifesting signs of addiction to technology devices. The World Health Organization recently acknowledged gaming on devices as an addiction. One of the major recommendations of the joint committee's report on cyberbullying was that an office of digital safety commissioner should be established. Sinn Féin fully supports this recommendation and has been advocating for it for a long time. The establishment of such an office has also been called for by the Law Reform Commission and the Government's special rapporteur on child protection. We believe the introduction of an office of digital safety commissioner should be a priority for the State as it seeks to ensure the digital safety of our young people. Such an office would be a one-stop shop on which parents, young people, industry representatives and legislators could rely for advice on best practice. Such a significant step is required to deal with this complex issue.

The nuances of this issue mean we must be conscious of the consequences of introducing a blanket ban on digital devices in schools, which is what the Bill before the House seeks to achieve. Sinn Féin sympathises somewhat with the reasoning behind Senator Craughwell's legislation, but we do not believe the Bill as it is currently drafted represents an appropriate way forward. It is telling that such a ban was not among the 18 recommendations made by the Joint Committee on Children and Youth Affairs in its report. There are several reasons for this. If they wish, schools can introduce bans in collaboration with parents and school staff. We recently saw an example of this in a school in County Kerry. One of the main reasons for introducing a ban that was given by the principal of that school was to prevent students from using group messages to spread rumours or post unflattering photographs. This proposal does not solve the problem, however, because the same students can establish the same online groups outside school hours. This will allow the bullying to continue. The solution to this behaviour that is needed is an approach that involves educating young people and their parents on how to use social media. Schools and parents can ban whatever they like, but young people are way ahead of the curve. They know more about technology than their parents or teachers. They can find a way around any rule.

We need to deal with the issue of bullying rather than the medium through which it is delivered. We often talk about delivering education on technology. Such education needs to be included in the school curriculum. It needs to be taught in school. This is yet another recommendation from the cross-party report on cyberbullying. Sinn Féin is suggesting that rather than implementing binding legislation, we should allow our schools to remain flexible with regard to how technology is used responsibly in each school. We need schools to be able to decide what works best for them, their students and their parents.

In many circumstances, parents want their children to have phones for communication and safety purposes. It is important for many reasons for children to have access to smartphones while they are at school. Children who walk to school or have long bus journeys to school need to let their parents know they have got there safely, especially in bad weather. Indeed, their parents want to know they got there safely. If a child has plans to meet a friend after school but those plans change or fall through, he or she will need to contact his or her parents to arrange a lift. Parents who work on zero-hour flexible contracts need to be able to contact their children to say they will be working late and alternative arrangements will need to be made. A child who is suffering from mental health issues or is having a bad day, or who is aware that his or her parent is going through a rough time, will want to be able to exchange texts with that parent so they can tell each other how they are doing.

Technology is not the issue. Smartphones and tablets can be very useful when they are used appropriately. If students and parents were educated to use such devices smartly, it would make life easier for everyone. For the reasons I have submitted, Sinn Féin cannot support this Bill, as it is currently drafted, on Second Stage. We believe the common-sense recommendations set out in the cross-party report build on the proposals made by the Internet Content Governance Advisory Group in 2014. We need an office of digital safety commissioner to be established as soon as possible because that is the way forward.