Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Ar dtús, déanaim comhghairdeas le mo chara agus mo chomhghleacaí, an Seanadóir Kyne. Go n-éirí leis lena dhualgas nua.

I was also extremely glad Deputy Fergus O'Dowd had his friends and former classmates from the Sharman Crawford Street technical institute in the House. In the group was my friend from my own home parish, Mattie Kilroy, and his wife Kathleen. Mattie Kilroy is one of those men who really deserves great commendation for being one of those people who greatly contribute to the social capital in our community. This ranges from his work as an educator over the years to being very well known in GAA circles and being responsible for the north-east Galway news in The Connacht Tribune. He is just one of those great community people. I am delighted to see Mattie and Kathleen here today.

I will ask my colleagues three simple questions. Should we be concerned about children accessing pornography and the extent to which it is going on now online? Do we think it is harming children and our society as a result? If we do think this is a problem and is harmful, should we be doing something about it? I propose to introduce a Private Member's Bill very soon, and I hope I will get time for it in this House before the recess, on age verification for access to pornography. This would place an obligation on Internet service providers and app store services to ensure that persons under 18 shall not be able to access pornography online. It would require those web controllers and app store providers putting up such material to require users to go through an age verification process, one that can be outsourced to relevant third parties according to a list the Minister could approve for this purpose. There would, of course, be a defence where someone else has facilitated the circumventing of the age verification process. The proposed legislation would also provide for the secure storage of age verification data for five years and that this would only be accessible when it is needed for legal proceedings.

It is quite remarkable that the likes of Pornhub, which has been described as the YouTube of the pornography industry, opposed age verification laws in many states in the US. What is also remarkable is that these age verification laws have been highly effective and have attracted strong, non-partisan support from Democrats and Republicans. I think it is time we did something like that here. I have circulated my proposal to my colleagues in the Seanad. I would be grateful if they would all look at it. If we could come to a united perspective on this matter, I think we could do the young people of our society a whole lot of good.