Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. It strikes me that the amendment is already quite reasonably worded. It does not say that there must be a youth advisory panel for all eternity. In the Minister of State’s reply, he mentioned a particular “moment in time”. We are at a particular moment in time when a wide range of new actors are going to be regulated for the first time. In that context, a youth advisory voice is important. The amendment, as I understand it, simply says that within one year of its establishment, the commission would establish the committee. It does not prescribe the issues that the committee would deal with. It talks simply about “issues of interest to children and young people, online safety, and on any other matters as the Commission may determine”. In fact, it is quite widely framed around the areas of examination. There is not an intent to tie down the agenda of the commission fully. It is left quite open. It also does not say that the youth advisory panel would have to continue forever. Rather, it says that it would be important to have a youth advisory panel, or a very close equivalent, in the first couple of years of this commission’s operation and that it should be set up within that first year.

I understand the Minister of State’s concern that sometimes a committee could be put in place and it would still be there in 20 years’ time. However, that is not what this amendment seeks to mandate. It simply says that it needs to happen early. With respect, we heard the lengthy debate. Even the online commissioner is only getting added in now. Unless issues are put in legislation, they can become an afterthought. We do not want in six years’ time for the commission to have to set up a youth advisory panel to let them know how they got it wrong. This is about making sure the commission hits the ground running and makes decisions, policies and regulations that work from the beginning. I think this is constructive. I do not think it overly binds the Government or the commission. We all expect that when we come back on Report Stage, we will be told it is the hope of the Minister that the commission might choose to establish a youth advisory panel. There will need to be something in the legislation that indicates that consultation will be happening, and will be happening early in the lifetime of the commission.