Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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101. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the process by which his Department will be developing and contributing draft actions to be considered as part of the action plan on Internet safety to be published in June 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16891/18]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Justice and Equality is primarily responsible for the criminal law aspects of online safety i.e. preparation and enforcement of the criminal law in relation to online content and behaviour that is illegal.

In considering actions for inclusion in the action plan, the Department is considering the feedback from the Open Policy Debate hosted by my colleague Minister Naughten last month together with the recent report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs on ‘Cyber Security for Children and Young Adults’. That report contains 18 recommendations, five of which fall within the remit of the Department of Justice and Equality. Four of these recommendations are concerned with changes to the criminal law while the fifth one relates to the digital age of consent provisions of the Data Protection Bill which is currently before the Houses of the Oireachtas.

All relevant Government Departments with responsibility in this area are working together to develop a whole of Government approach to the Action Plan, and this work is being taken forward under the auspices of Cabinet Committee B.