Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I, too, send my sympathies to Senator Buttimer and his family on their recent bereavement.

It is apt that today is Safer Internet Day. I express my disappointment, as a member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media which carried out pre-legislative scrutiny in this area for the best part of 2021, that this is not on the agenda, as it should be at the start of the legislative process. I look forward to the Minister spending significant time in the House to discuss the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022. I am also disappointed that one of the main parts of that Bill, the independent reporting mechanism proposed by the committee, has not formed part of the initial Bill.

With regard to July provision, we welcomed significant investment in the July provision programme in 2021. Some €40 million was set aside for that programme last year during Covid, yet only €14 million of that was spent. There are issues in the way the scheme is set up. A significant number of schools did not take part in it, which meant that a significant number of children were not able to avail of it. This whole area needs to be looked at now and a proper system put in place for summer 2022 to ensure a significant number of children and families get to avail of it properly when the funding is put in place. A discussion group and forum met in early November 2021 but I understand it has not met since. Parents want clarity on what July provision will be this year. It has to be different from last year because a significant number of teachers and schools did not take part in the scheme and children with special needs, in particular, were not looked after.