The Online Health Taskforce was established in September 2024 in recognition of the growing body of evidence, from Ireland and internationally, showing the link between certain types of online activity and physical and mental health harms to children and young people. The Taskforce’s report provides a comprehensive framework to understand and address the complex challenges facing children and young people in digital environments. It includes four proposed foundational principles and 10 recommendations aimed at increasing the protection of children from online threats and ensuring the creation of safer online spaces.

Minister Carroll MacNeill has also published a report from the National Youth Assembly (NYA) on youth online health which provided invaluable direct insights and feedback that were central to the Taskforce’s deliberations.

The Taskforce commissioned the Institute of Public Health (IPH) to complete a national and international research and literature review. The IPH’s report, Digital marketing of health-harming products to children in Ireland – options for further protections, sets out options for safeguarding children's online health which informed the development of the Taskforce's recommendations.

Minister Carroll MacNeill said: "The Online Health Taskforce's recommendations provide a clear roadmap for action – one that puts children's rights at the centre and requires a whole-of-government response. My sincere thanks to all members of the Taskforce and Chair, Jillian van Turnhout, for their rigorous, evidence-informed work and their dedication. I am equally grateful to the members of the National Youth Assembly, whose insights on both the risks and opportunities of the digital world I had the privilege to hear in July. “In reflecting on the recommendations in this report, I am reminded of something our Taskforce Chair, Jillian van Turnhout said: ‘Young people are the true experts on their digital experiences.’ The digital space offers significant benefits, but safeguarding children and young people must remain a non-negotiable priority. This is ultimately about creating a safer, more supportive digital space for everyone. I will shortly establish a group to examine implementation of the recommendations and will engage with colleagues across Government, because as the Taskforce rightly notes, this requires prompt and coordinated action.”

Minister for Mental Health and Government Chief Whip, Mary Butler TD said “Reducing the harm caused to young people’s wellbeing by technology is a critical issue for the Government. I welcome the recommendations from the Online Health Taskforce which are grounded in evidence and the experiences and voices of young people themselves. “We know young people are struggling with the addictive nature of algorithms, affecting their ability to get enough sleep and movement. We also know that for some young people, platforms are amplifying feelings of low self-esteem and placing them at significant risk. The recommendations of the Online Health Taskforce will place more of the regulatory burden on platforms themselves, rather than expecting young people to be able to regulate themselves in the face of algorithms designed to keep our attention.”

Minister for Children, Disability and Equality Norma Foley TD said “It is important that children and young people have been given a key say in the work of the Online Taskforce via the National Youth Assembly of Ireland. I was really pleased to meet with the delegates at their July event on youth online health hosted in my own department. The young people identified a number of key priority areas – regulation, age restrictions, artificial intelligence, body image, healthy online spaces, and accessible language – which are at the heart of this strategy. Online health is now a significant part of mental health and I looking forward to working with my government colleagues to protect our children and young people in this regard."

Chair of the Online Health Taskforce, Jillian van Turnhout said: "Throughout this process, it has been the authentic voices of young people that have provided the crucial foundation for our understanding. The recommendations represent a balanced, evidence-informed pathway forward – one that recognises both the significant benefits and serious risks of digital engagement. We owe it to Ireland's children and young people to act decisively, while respecting their rights and ensuring they are part of the solution. “The report provides clear foundational principles and operational recommendations to guide Government action. In particular, 'child rights by design' has the capacity to transform how we view the online environment – shifting from reactive responses to proactive protection, ensuring that children's rights, safety and wellbeing are built into digital products and services from the outset, not as an afterthought."

Interim Chief Medical Officer, Prof Mary Horgan said: “The Taskforce’s recommendations represent a robust public health response to the harms caused by certain types of online activity. Successful implementation will introduce much stronger protections and significantly enhance the mental health and wellbeing of our children and young people.”

Notes
The Final Report of the Online Health Taskforce drew on extensive evidence from stakeholder consultations, academic research, and expert analysis. These recommendations represent a balanced approach that recognises both the significant benefits and serious risks from online technology use. This report’s proposed framework operates through two tiers: four foundational principles that establish the overarching policy direction, and 10 operational recommendations that provide specific, actionable measures. These span five key domains: children and young people’s rights, safety by design, critical digital literacy, enforcement and accountability, and regulatory frameworks.

Four Foundational Principles are proposed:

1. The Government must ensure that all of its actions and considerations afford children and young people their rights in the digital environment, equivalent to those in the physical world, including the right to health, privacy, safety, participation, freedom of expression, access to information and education, and protection from harm.
2. All relevant Government strategies, legislative frameworks, funding allocations, and delivery mechanisms must work coherently to ensure that all children and young people’s spaces – online and offline – provide opportunities for them to be healthy and safe, to grow, to learn, to thrive, to explore and achieve.
3. The Government should lead international cooperation to promote online health, well-being and safety, including supporting the implementation of international and national regulations.
4. A coordinated research strategy should be implemented that is proactive and responsive, to keep up with the fast pace of change in the digital environment, to promote health and well-being, and to support pre-emptive action to prevent future harm.

10 operational recommendations are proposed, grouped under five categories:

• The need for a children and young people’s rights focus
• Safety by Design
• Critical digital literacy
• Enforcement and accountability
• European Union (EU) and national regulations

a) The need for a Children and Young People’s Rights focus

Operational Recommendation One: In framing policies and strategies to promote health and well-being, to ensure online safety and to uphold children and young people’s rights, attention must be given to all potential areas of risk, with solutions co-produced with all relevant stakeholders, most importantly with children and young people themselves.

Operational Recommendation Two: The Government should mobilise existing mechanisms and, as necessary, establish new mechanisms for meaningful consultation with children and young people to ensure healthy and safe environments.

b) Safety by Design

Operational Recommendation Three: Ireland should advocate at EU level that all providers of digital products and services be required by regulation to incorporate “Child Rights by Design” principles into the design, features, and functioning of their services and algorithms, encompassing the full spectrum of children and young people’s rights including equity and diversity, best interests of the child, consultation, participation, age-appropriateness, privacy, safety, well-being, development, and agency. This is in line with the European Commission’s guidelines under Article 28 of the Digital Services Act published in July 2025.

Operational Recommendation Four: The Government should develop a two-stage regulatory approach that builds upon existing age classification frameworks, with implementation proceeding sector by sector: first establishing a comprehensive legally binding system that categorises digital products and services by age-appropriateness, then requiring providers within each sector to implement effective, privacy-preserving, and non-discriminatory age verification mechanisms, as appropriate, to enforce these classifications.

c) Critical digital literacy

Operational Recommendation Five: Building on existing initiatives, an evidence-informed critical digital literacy campaign and educational programme should be implemented across Ireland. This should focus on the promotion of health and well-being, ensuring online safety and protecting children and young people’s rights. The campaign and educational programme should aim to support not only children and young people, but also those who have caring responsibilities for them, including parents, carers, teachers, youth workers and relevant health professionals.

d) Enforcement and accountability

Operational Recommendation Six: The role that recommender systems play in recommending inappropriate or harmful content to children and young people needs to be addressed by platforms and regulators. Platforms need to ensure that there are effective measures in place to adequately mitigate the risks of children being recommended inappropriate or harmful content. Regulators need to supervise and enforce these obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA), and in particular, the obligation to swiftly remove content that is illegal and/or harmful. The exemption from liability for harmful but legal content on platforms should be reconsidered if the required steps are not taken by platforms to meet the requirements of the DSA and Online Safety and Media Regulation Act (OSMRA). Where existing legal frameworks prove insufficient to protect children and young people from algorithmic harms, additional regulatory measures should be developed.

Operational Recommendation Seven: Coimisiún na Meán must be adequately resourced through its levy-based funding system to deliver effective enforcement of online safety regulations, ensuring both proactive prevention of breaches and swift, robust responses to violations. To ensure appropriate Oireachtas scrutiny, Coimisiún na Meán should provide, in its annual report a comprehensive assessment of resource adequacy in protecting children and young people’s health and well-being online. Any enforcement gaps or shortfalls can be reviewed by the Oireachtas so that the Government is enabled to take appropriate action.

Operational Recommendation Eight: The Government should consider strengthening sanctions and accountability measures under the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act to ensure that Board Members and executives of bodies providing digital products and services are held appropriately accountable for certain breaches of online safety regulations affecting children and young people’s health, safety and welfare.

e) EU and national regulations

Operational Recommendation Nine: The Government should take a leadership role during its Presidency of the Council of the EU from July 2026, with the aim of encouraging collaboration and alignment of policy actions in the digital environment that will promote health and well-being, as well as ensuring safety and protecting children and young people’s rights.

Operational Recommendation Ten: The Government should support the development of the EU Digital Fairness Act (DFA). This Act would address problematic online practices not covered by existing EU consumer laws, and will aim to create a healthier and safer digital environment for all consumers, especially children and young people.