Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators. In terms of amendment No. 164 regarding a minimum age requirement for children, it is important to acknowledge that there is a very real issue with young children accessing online services that simply were not designed with them in mind. It is an issue that I am particularly aware of both as a parent of young children and as chair of the National Advisory Council for Online Safety, which recently released a comprehensive report on children's online safety. Finding workable solutions in this area raises a number of complex issues, including privacy and data protection matters that would need to be resolved before a solution could be effectively implemented.

In this regard, it is useful to note that an EU-funded pilot called euCONSENT is in development. The pilot aims to deliver a system for online age verification and parental consent, which balances the rights of children and the need to protect them from online harm and age-inappropriate content. The outcome of this pilot will inform any approach taken to this issue at an EU and national level.

While I cannot accept this amendment, I will be asking an coimisiún to look at this issue as a priority in conjunction with the Data Protection Commission and to identify potential options and solutions to dealing with this complex issue. Not everything can be dealt with in a single item of legislation, but what matters is that we put the framework in place.

Regarding amendment No. 163, I note that section 139K of the 2009 Act, as inserted by this Bill, provides coimisiún na meán with the power to create binding safety codes to ensure "that service providers take any measures in relation to commercial communications on their services that are appropriate to protect the interests of users of their services, and in particular the interests of children".

Further to this, section 139K specifically provides that, in respect of providers of video-sharing platform services, that an coimisiún shall make online safety codes requiring those providers to comply with the requirements of Article 9(1) of the revised directive in respect of advertisements directly placed by the provider and user-generated advertisements. This includes a long list of requirements, including regarding the protection of children. As such, given the extensive provision already in the Bill for the regulation of online commercial communication, I will not be accepting this amendment.

I understand the intention of amendment No. 165 in seeking to clarify that the definition of age-inappropriate content used in the Bill should not preclude educational material. However, I do not believe that this provision would have this effect due to its framing with regard to the capabilities, development, rights and interests of children. Accordingly, I am not accepting the amendment.