THE TAOISEACH HAS said “momentum is building” in Europe for a ban on children’s social media use.
The European Parliament President, Roberta Metsola, praised Ireland for its “leadership” on social media protection but said there is a “huge need for something to be done for our kids online”.
Metsola spoke alongside Taoiseach Micheál Martin at Dublin Castle following a bilateral meeting between the pair ahead of Ireland’s hosting of the EU Presidency from 1 July to 31 December.
A ban on the use of social media by under-16s is due to be in place in the UK by next spring, and similar measures were introduced in Australia in December last year.
Communications minister Patrick O’Donovan has previously said it would be “very embarrassing for the European institutions” if Ireland brought forward social media restrictions for children because of a lack of progress at a European level.
Divisive
The move, however, has been divisive across the political spectrum.
Sinn Féin spokesperson for culture Joanne Byrne told The Journal that the party is opposed to the ban, and she does not believe it is enforceable or will be effective at improving online safety.
“It may drive teens to the darker, unregulated, corners of the internet,” she said.
Meanwhile, People Before Profit-Solidarity’s Paul Murphy said the ban doesn’t work in Australia and “won’t do anything meaningful”.
Asked by reporters today if he would commit to bringing forward a scheme to restrict social media for children if agreement is not reached on an EU level in the next six months, Martin said the European Commission is planning to bring forward proposals for protecting children online.
“Some two months ago, I attended a meeting hosted by President Macron in respect of a ban on under-16s, on children on social media, and so a lot of momentum is building up in relation to this,” he said.
“But as you know, President von der Leyen established a group to report back to her in respect of this issue, so we are anticipating further economies and proposals and ideas.
“I think there is an opportunity for a European-wide position in respect to protecting children online, which I think would be quite powerful and quite impactful, if we could achieve that across the EU 27.
“We already have laws in place to protect children, and we will always consider additional domestic laws also, but we believe the preference will be to achieve the European consensus on a pan-European approach to protecting children.”
Metsola reiterated that the EU is working on “concrete measures” to shield children from online harm, saying “as a mother, these things keep me up at night”.
“I also would like to wait for the Commission’s proposal, because our wish is for us to have a coherent European approach, which gives a little bit of predictability for us as a continent as to how rules that would gain consensus would then be rolled out,” she said.
“But then I also follow on what the Taoiseach said about Irish domestic laws, and I would like to thank Ireland for its leadership in this area.”
Metsola referred to Jackie Fox, a campaigner who advocated for the introduction of “Coco’s Law” in Ireland, which makes it an offence to share or threaten to share intimate images on digital devices without consent and criminalises severe online bullying.
“We had Jackie Fox in Parliament a few months ago, and her experience and pushing through Coco’s law on cyberbullying, rolls over to a unified parliament position to have that on European level and that is something that comes from Ireland, and would be able to be done because there is huge need for something to be done for our kids online in this regard,” she said.
In his opening comments, the Taoiseach said his meeting with Metsola “centred around the priorities of Ireland’s presidency under the three core themes of competitiveness and values and security”.
Asked if Ireland was “out of step” with the EU on a number of issues, such as Ireland’s rejection of the Mercosur trade deal and suspending trade with Israel, Mr Martin said “across the European Union there’s always a wide spectrum” of opinion.
Earlier on Tuesday, Metsola paid a courtesy call to President Catherine Connolly at Áras an Uachtaráin.
She also held meetings with Tánaiste Simon Harris and Foreign Minister Helen McEntee, as well as with the speaker of Ireland’s parliament in Leinster House.
Metsola also visited Croke Park, where she viewed a demonstration of Gaelic games.