Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This year eight primary schools in Greystones and Delgany came together and the parents and young people adopted a voluntary code to agree that children of 12 years of age and younger would not have a mobile phone. They agreed that they would not purchase or use a mobile phone once the children were in primary school, that mobile phones were for secondary school and that they would not do that. The collaboration of all of the schools and parents meant that no child was left in a place where their parents did not agree with a mobile phone and so they were the only children left out. It is effectively a uniform ban on mobile phones although it is not a ban because it is voluntary.

I was impressed by this. I have spoken to a number of teachers and parents who feel they cannot make that decision but who would like to make that decision for their children. I made the decision that our child will not have a mobile phone until secondary school because I am concerned about the developmental stages that are lost by a child having their head stuck in a phone instead of playing and using their imagination to play with their toys. They need to have that robust forward and backwards on the playground of falling out with each other or making friends, and of playing and collaborating in games together. On top of that, there is all of the bullying and that possibility but before that is the developmental stage and the social skills that are lost by children being on their mobile phones too much. Parents who want to make those decisions are left on their own if the initiative is not school-wide, and nobody wants their child left behind in such a situation.

Last weekend I escalated that call. I have written to the Department of Education and Coimisiún na Meán to ask if we can have a conversation about the national use of mobile phones by children of 12 years and under. I also asked if we could have a circular from the Department of Education that would support this throughout primary schools. Since then I have had overwhelming support and I have had a number of schools contact me. This morning I was on Midwest Radio and the Leader will be glad to know that Castlebar and Crossmolina are implementing this as well. Throughout the country schools are beginning to bring these codes of conduct on the use of mobile phones online. When we return in the new term I would like us to have statements on the use of mobile phones and smart devices by young people. We need them in exceptional circumstances. Some children will need them for medical reasons and children with diabetes might need that monitoring. We should have a conversation about the social change that is coming in that everybody is being pressured into. We should talk about how we push back against that.