Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House again. I join other Members in congratulating Senator Craughwell on the introduction of this Bill, which has facilitated a conversation in this House on the nature of digital safety in the classroom and in schools. It is very easy to support this Bill because of the intent behind it. One hears stories from teachers and parents on the nature of cyberbullying, the pressures on young children, the prevalence of self-harm and suicide and the dehumanising bullying that takes place. It is quite terrifying that smartphones and other means of accessing the Internet are facilitating access to pornography and gambling, thereby causing all sorts of social problems and difficulties in young lives. We live in a country in which children are self-harming and killing themselves because of bullying. Before the smartphone was invented, bullying used to happen on the toilet wall in school, but now people have found a different mechanism to be hurtful. We do not deny that the emotions transmitted through smartphones and digital devices are causing pain, destruction and death. We need to consider how best to regulate the use of these devices and deal with the situation.

We should not be under any illusions regarding the powers and dangers of these devices. If someone awoke from a 30-year coma and walked around the streets of Dublin today, he or she might notice differences in fashion trends, cars and buildings, but the biggest difference he or she would notice after being unconscious for 30 years would be that people are walking around with things in their hands that they are unable to take their eyes off. I think that is the biggest single change that has happened in the last 30 years. It is not just young people who behave in this way. I have a new app on my phone that counts how many hours I am spending on the device each day. I freely admit that I was shocked to learn how often I flip it open and engage with it. As everyone in public life, including the Members of this House, will know, it is easy for people to send us negative or abusive messages in various ways.How do we protect our children from that? It is far too easy for policy makers to say schools are the answer to all our problems. Children do not live in schools. When I was in the classroom, I recoiled from the suggestion that the teacher or school was the answer to any social ill. There was an attitude that, whether the problem was teenage sex, drugs, alcohol, violence, video games or joyriding, if children were taught properly in school, everything would be fine.

In fairness to teachers, their job is to deliver a wide curriculum at primary and second levels. They do their best to care for their children but the children do not live in the schools. In my time in the classroom, we did our best to encourage children to make the right choices but once they step outside the door of the school, it is a different reality and environment, the expectations on them are different and they respond differently to those around them. Children will say the right thing at the right time in the classroom but the reality on the street is very different. If the education system in Ireland really had that much influence over children’s behaviour, mass attendance might be much bigger and the Irish language proficiency of Irish children might be much better. Teachers have a limited level of influence on children which should not be overstated. That does not mean schools should do nothing but if we are trying to solve a social ill, we cannot just say the school is the answer. It is part of the answer. The answer lies with the school and wider communities, parents, politics and the media. Any adult is part of the answer. It is wrong to simply state that the school is the one place where this can be rectified.

Is legislation the right way to go on this issue? I have tossed and turned and reflected on it and, while I absolutely understand the intent behind the Bill, I am interested to hear what the Minister has to say on the matter. Circulars are sent to schools in the Irish education system to guide them on how best to deal with situations and the children under their care. I am yet to be convinced that the introduction of legislation is the way to go. My party and I would be happy to support the Bill in terms of it facilitating this debate in the House but we are very interested to hear what the Minster has to say in response to the Bill because there is a balance to be struck between the ability of a school to run itself in the best way it sees fit and the responsibility of the State to protect children in conjunction with the school.

However, let us be clear that children spend most of their time outside school. This week, schools will break for the summer and children will have two months during which they will not come into any contact with their school but digital devices will be readily available to them at all hours of the day and night. There are significant responsibilities on the corporate sector and those selling these devices in terms of the age of persons to whom they are sold, the types of app available to children and the types of interaction children are allowed to have through various social media outlets We have allowed the corporate sector to run riot without regulation in many respects and whenever we ask it to step in the response has been less than impressive. Members of this Oireachtas have received all sorts of death and rape threats but we have a facility to respond in the House and as adults. I can only imagine what a child would feel if such threats were communicated to him or her through his or her phone.

Senator Craughwell is to be congratulated for bringing his absolutely well-intentioned and well-meaning Bill to the Oireachtas. This is a very useful and healthy debate. Every parent in the country dreads their child reaching an age when he or she asks for a phone. We have yet to resolve the question of how best to empower the school community and parents to adequately deal with that. I am not yet convinced that the Bill is the way to do so but the motivations behind the Bill will go some way to resolving the issue. I am interested to hear the response of the Minister.