Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport (Deputy Patrick O'Donovan): Táim sásta a bheith anseo chun an cheist thar a bheith tábhachtach seo a phlé. Mar Aire Cultúir, Cumarsáide agus Spóirt, is í an tsábháilteacht ar líne, go háirithe do leanaí agus daoine óga, an chloch is mó ar mo phaidrín. Dála go leor eile sa Teach seo, is tuismitheoir mé mar aon le polaiteoir. Mar sin, tá sábháilteacht ar líne tábhachtach domsa mar athair.

I am pleased to be here this afternoon to discuss this very important issue. As Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, online safety, in particular for children and young people, is a top priority for me. However, like many others in the House, I am a parent as well as a politician, so online safety is even important to me as a father.

Like so many other important public policy issues that we discuss in this House, online safety is a complex issue. If we take a step back and think of the technological advances we have made in the past 20 years, we can see how the Internet and digitalisation have helped to improve our lives. We can avail of a range of Government services online in a convenient and secure fashion. Instead of having to take a day off work to renew a passport, we can do it online from the comfort of our homes.

We can apply online for social welfare entitlements and get a response very quickly.

As part of that technological leap forward, the advent of social media means, on the positive side, that we are connected as a community and as a nation as never before. We can both teach others and learn from them in ways that were unfathomable for previous generations. However, there are also risks and we need to constantly bear in mind the need for online safety, particularly when it comes to our children.

As many Members of the House of a certain age might be able to say, we are digital immigrants. On the other hand, our children are digital natives. Social media, with everything it brings, is part of their lives. So, it is essential that we make sure that children do not see illegal, harmful or age-inappropriate content while being able to safely avail of all the benefits of the online world.

The regulation of online platforms has undergone a transformation in recent years as a result of groundbreaking legislation, notably the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022 - the OSMR Act - which underpinned the establishment of Coimisiún na Meán and provided the legislative basis for the online safety code. In addition to an coimisiún’s role as media regulator, it now implements a range of online safety legislation from across the Government. This new online safety framework consists of three main elements: the aforementioned OSMR Act, which transposed the audiovisual media services directive; the EU Digital Services Act, DSA, under which an coimisiún is Ireland’s digital services co-ordinator, and the EU terrorist content online regulation, for which Coimisiún na Meán is also a competent authority on supervision and enforcement. This framework equips an coimisiún with the tools required to regulate online services, to supervise compliance and to enforce it as necessary, including by way of financial sanctions, should they be required.

At this juncture, it is important to state that the Government provided for Coimisiún na Meán to be largely self-sufficient in terms of resourcing. An coimisiún levies the entities it regulates and the income from these levies enables it to deliver on its strategic objectives. However, from the beginning, the Government came forward with resources to enable an coimisiún to hit the ground running, providing more than €10 million for the purpose from the outset. That enabled an coimisiún to kickstart recruitment. From a starting point of 40 staff, it now has over 260. I have secured sanction for it to recruit over 300 staff and I will work to ensure that its staffing level continues to grow as additional functions are assigned to it. This puts Coimisiún na Meán in the big league when it comes to resources and staffing and the levy provision enables it to keep pace with developments.

In terms of significant developments in the framework, it is important to acknowledge the full application in July of this year of Ireland’s online safety code. To allow for the implementation of the code, it was rolled out in two parts. Part A, which has general obligations, has applied since November 2024. Under Part A, designated platforms must provide for protections for minors from content that may impair physical, mental or moral development, and for the general public from content that incites hatred or violence or is racist or xenophobic.

The second part - Part B - has applied since July 2025 and has more specific obligations, such as prohibiting the uploading or sharing of harmful content on their services, including cyberbullying, promoting self-harm or suicide, and promoting eating or feeding disorders, as well as incitement to hatred or violence, terrorism, child sex abuse material, racism and xenophobia. Part B requires the use of age assurance to prevent children from encountering pornography or gratuitous violence online and the provision of parental controls for content that may impair the physical, mental, or moral development of children under the age of 16.

It is for the regulated platforms to demonstrate that they have the correct safety measures in place to prevent illegal or harmful content being shown. The code also makes it clear that it is up to the designated services to ensure that the age assurance methods they are using are robust and privacy protecting. Self-declaration of age is no longer an acceptable form of age verification. A failure to address these requirements adequately can lead to significant financial sanctions and continued non-compliance can lead to criminal sanctions for senior management. Coimisiún na Meán is responsible for enforcing compliance with the code and fines for non-compliance can reach up to €20 million or 10% of annual turnover, whichever is the higher....

... Deputy Ciarán Ahern: I thank the Minister for providing us with time to discuss what is without question one of the most pressing issues we face in an increasingly digitalised world. We all live our lives online. It is where we work, shop, find our entertainment and, increasingly, where we socialise and young people find their communities. Many young people almost have a parallel online life to their life in the real world. I had the pleasure of attending the South Dublin Comhairle na nÓg annual youth conference recently. Comhairle na nÓg had conducted a survey among young people which highlighted that managing their social media and mental health are two of the biggest issues impacting on them. It launched a campaign to encourage young people to take time off from being online, use social media safely, explore other interests and, very importantly, see their friends in real life... 

To understand what children are experiencing, the "RTÉ Investigates" team set up accounts as if they were a five-year-old, a nine-year-old and a 13-year-old. At no point were they asked for age verification. At no point were they prompted to enable parental controls. Once inside the platform, they encountered, in experiences rated as suitable for children, sexualised role-play, simulated sexual acts, racial slurs and discussions of suicide. This was not hidden, deep-web material. This was found within roughly 12 hours of normal game play on a platform used by over 150 million people daily, one third of whom are under 13. The investigation also identified gambling-style mechanics available to under-13s, as well as children begging strangers for the platform's currency, something gardaí say has already been exploited by predators to coerce children here into harmful behaviour, including self-harm and attempted suicide.

Irish children are being groomed on these platforms and one of the greatest risks is the ease with which adults and children can communicate freely and then be moved off-platform into private messaging services, where there is no oversight at all.

[Click here to read the full debate on the Oireachtas website]