Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing my time with Senator Devine.

Like other colleagues, I welcome the Minister of State to the Seanad. I commend Senator Freeman on introducing this Bill so we can deal on Second Stage with the important subject matter it seeks to address. Sinn Féin certainly welcomes the policy behind the Bill and its attempt to put some regulatory form on the online environment and protect those who are most vulnerable and open to exploitation.

The Bill contains many of the objectives of the Sinn Féin Bill that was introduced in the Dáil and is currently on Committee Stage. It remains under a money message. We hope progress can be made on it. Our Bill, like this Bill, seeks to have regulatory protections in our online world. It is a relatively new area that is ever-growing and it cannot be left to self-regulation or, worse, no regulation at all, nor can it be left to corporate entities to define the regulatory environment. This is a job for us as legislators. Legislation must establish the balance between respecting freedom of speech and the need to protect those who are most vulnerable. Social media and the online world will no doubt develop their own body of law on protection as ever-emerging technology increasingly invades everyday life. This body of law will need oversight.

Our Bill, like this Bill, seeks to establish an office of a digital safety commissioner. This office would be a permanent statutory body rather than an office internal to the Department. The former communications Minister supported the intention of our Bill but the Fine Gael Government thus far has failed to legislate. As it is a new emerging area of law, it will require much work from a legislative perspective. We are debating various aspects of the Bill at meetings of the communications committee, such as how we would define harmful material and how we would address the trans-boundary nature of online communications. Simply because it is a new area does not mean we should sit back and not act. The office under the Sinn Féin Bill would have responsibility for promoting digital safety, online reviewing and regulating harmful digital communications on the Internet as well as other digital platforms with the intention of establishing safer and healthier attitudes for all users of digital platforms. The concept of a digital safety commissioner is supported by the ISPCC, the Ombudsman for Children and CyberSafeIreland. The former Minister also spoke positively about it.

It is time to legislate in this area and put proper protections in place. That is why I again commend Senator Freeman on introducing this Bill today. We shall support it as it progresses. I apologise to Senator Freeman because I will not be present for the rest of the debate as I am hosting an event in the audiovisual room.