Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I second Senator Nash's amendment to the Order of Business.

This morning I attended a presentation made by Senator Freeman in the AV room on the Children's Digital Protection Bill which we discussed last year and has reached Committee Stage. Its purpose is to safeguard children exposed to legal but harmful and age inappropriate web content and place responsibility on the hosts for the distribution of the information and making it available to children. People can go on the dark web to get step-by-step instructions every day for 50 days on how to self-harm. At the end of the 50 days they will be told how to complete suicide. This is affecting young children aged ten years and younger. We are still in mental health and well-being week. These online forums are seen as normal. It is seen as normal behaviour to be promoted, but it is so damaging. Some sadistic individuals are capturing young children and, after 50 days of induction, asking them to complete suicide. I would certainly not allow a child to enter a room alone with one person not knowing what the conversation was going to be about.This particular conversation is frightening. There are also special forums on how to be the best anorexic in the world. It is a normalisation of dysfunction. The forums' effect on our children's health and well-being is renowned. At 1 p.m. tomorrow, the community groups Hug and Mental Health Warriors will gather outside the gates of Leinster House to protest for more fit-for-purpose services for our children and for us as legislators to protect our children.