Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I commend the Bill and support the principle of it. Human relationships are complex and many young people are bombarded with information. A lot of it is information they do not seek out and this is because they have smartphones and are accessing the Internet. Many online and mostly unregulated sources do not provide them with the most accurate and appropriate information. We know a lot of the information young people access can be false and damaging. I believe that as a society we have an obligation to ensure information - and the correct information - that young people see and receive relating to sex and sexuality is appropriate and consistent. We as legislators certainly have a duty in that regard. We know that children are now far more susceptible to being exposed to pornography than ever before. Unfortunately, that can often lead to other really difficult situations . As the Minister will be aware, the former education committee that both she and I were members of, did quite a substantive report about relationships and sexuality education, RSE, and the need to revise and upgrade it. We were faced with the challenge of how we deal with the whole area of pornography.

In fact it was very much a learning curve for us as members. I was hesitant even to put the word "pornography" into a report. We had quite a discussion on this. We realised that by not putting it in, we were not facing up to the concerns there are around pornography. We put it in, in terms of being concerned about the impact on young people of accessing pornography when at a younger age and not in a position to make informed judgments in relation to it. The committee was contacted by many people who did not like the fact that the committee used the word "pornography". However, we included it because we wanted to be realistic about it. There was no point in engaging in many sessions with people who were committed, sensitive and open to us about issues and challenges, and not recognising that pornography was a huge concern, both within the educational world and within society.

It was a wake-up call for us. We learned that children as young as 11, and in a European context children as young as six and seven, access pornography online. The best way to deal with this is to try to be as open and honest as possible and be clear that there can be very negative consequences from accessing pornography. There is unprecedented exposure right across Europe in terms of children being exposed to pornographic imagery. We know from the research that this can be detrimental to their psychological and physical development. This exposure brings increased risks of harmful gender stereotyping, in some cases addiction to pornography, early and unhealthy sexual relationships, as well as difficulties with developing balanced, respectful relationships in future life. Early exposure to pornography can result in the blurring of boundaries of normal curiosity towards sexuality and socially acceptable behaviour. It undermines respect for human dignity, privacy and physical integrity.

Across Europe, law enforcement authorities have reported a massive spike in cases of harmful sexual behaviour by children. As a member of the Council of Europe, I knew some reports had been done on this and I found some interesting information. Across the member states we need to address gaps in relevant legislation and practice to ensure there are easy-to-use parental tools and that ad filtering and ad-blocking tools are built in by default, and by supporting the use of age verification tools. Based on lessons learned from experience, some countries, particularly France, have gone about age verification in a different way. That is by use of credit cards, as nobody under a certain age can have a credit card. We need to look at the measures that have been implemented elsewhere.

I have very little time left. In regard to an unconscious bias, in one particular area, the French Parliament passed age verification legislation in 2020. In the UK, the Government introduced the Digital Economy Act in 2017, which was a huge milestone in protecting children from going online. In one particular French-----