Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have some sympathy for what Senator Warfield has outlined. What is important in this legislation is that, in as far as possible, it is technology-neutral because who knows what kind of technology the new media commission will be regulating in the years ahead. In terms of some of the challenges and opportunities that are presented within the metaverse, we already see children and young people avoiding some of the rules around age identification and verification. I accept it is not primarily a piece of responsibility for the media commission but given its work, which relates precisely to the points that have been made, it is something of which the commission is going to have to be conscious. The primary focus of the role of the new office of the online safety commissioner will probably end up being around children's safety online and we will need to have regard to this. In terms of taking on board some of the concerns, this was an issue that the joint committee did debate in great detail.

The age of digital consent is a separate question which we may not wish to get into, but it is something the online safety commissioner is going to have to be aware of. As Senator Warfield says, the question of ensuring the legislation is technology-neutral for whatever new technologies come down the line, including devices that through machine learning and AI, will monitor exactly what children and young people are doing online to make sure that those protections are in place.