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

Amendment No. 56 addresses a matter raised by Senators Malcolm Byrne and Cassells on Committee Stage. Its purpose is to require coimisiún na mean to establish a youth advisory committee as one of its advisory committees.

In the drafting of the amendment, it was considered the age group the committee should represent should be those under 25 years of age including children, and that at least half of its members should be not more than 25 years of age. In this regard, the stated age profile aligns with the categorisation of young people being those persons under 25 years of age under the provisions for content production schemes at section 159F of the Broadcasting Act 2009 as amended by the Bill.

The amendment provides that the youth advisory committee shall include representatives nominated, at the invitation of an coimisiún, by organisations representing children or young people. Finally, the amendment specifies that, in particular, the youth advisory committee shall advise an coimisiún on online safety matters. This is a recognition of the importance of the voice of young people in online safety in particular. They are often at the coalface of new technologies and, unfortunately, of some of the harms that can arise from them.

The matter raised by amendment No. 57 has been dealt with by the Government amendment in this grouping.