I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important issue and thank People Before Profit-Solidarity for bringing it forward. In fact, I was in the Chamber only last night questioning the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, and highlighting alarming levels of online abuse directed at our national sporting representatives. Given that we are going into two by-elections, the people putting themselves forward for those two elections will be targeted online. Unfortunately, that is the reality. Social media, at its best, is a powerful tool. It connects, educates and empowers us, and it gives people a way to explore their interests and activities. However, over the years, we have seen the online world expand at a pace far beyond what our laws, our institutions, and even the most well-intentioned digital platforms can keep up with. While technology has evolved at lightning speed, regulation has not. Too often, laws remain relaxed, fragmented or outdated and in this gap between innovation and governance, harm has grown. Across Ireland, and indeed across the world, parents are calling for clearer and stronger action to keep children safe online. They are not calling for perfection or censorship. They are calling for basic, enforceable safeguards to protect their sons and daughters from exploitation, bullying and exposure to harmful content. We know that digital violence against women and girls is surging. We know that powerful algorithms are targeting boys with increasingly extreme and misogynistic content. We know that the online world is now an enormous part of young people’s daily lives. It is where they laugh, learn, chat, play and sometimes face pressures and dangers they do not yet have the tools to understand. Research has shown that social media algorithms can funnel boys towards misogynistic and extremist content within minutes of first using an app. What begins as a harmless interest in fitness, gaming, chatting to friends or motivation can quickly transform into violent, demeaning and hyper-aggressive content that normalises misogyny and distorts masculinity. This "aggro-rithm" in effect preys on the vulnerable, particularly people in lonely situations, and is now influencing real-world interactions, peer culture and even school behaviour. Teachers are reporting misogynistic attitudes in classrooms and playground behaviour that is being reinforced by what boys are seeing pushed upon them online. TikTok is the fastest growing platform on the planet among children and young people, yet the measures in place to protect them remain inconsistent and insufficient. We are dealing not only with harmful content but a system designed to amplify whatever keeps users engaged, regardless of its impact on safety or well-being. We need to be clear this is not about vilifying technology. It is about recognising the scale of the challenge, the pace of the danger and the responsibility we have, collectively, to act. We need robust, enforceable legislation that places clear responsibility on digital platforms, especially those targeting children. It is no longer acceptable for companies to rely on weak standards or reactive moderation. Safety cannot be optional. Age verification must be meaningful, not cosmetic. Parental controls must be clear and accessible, not buried in complicated menus or hidden entirely. Parents also cannot be passive in this. A lot of parents in their 30s or 40s, which is my own age group, grew up with social media, so it is not completely unknown to us. We need transparency. Algorithms shape what young people see, how they think and even how they interact with one another. If those algorithms are promoting misogyny, self-harm content, gambling mechanisms or predatory behaviour, then companies must be held accountable. Independent audits and mandatory risk assessments are essential. We need a cultural shift in how parents, educators and communities approach the online world. We do not need to be tech experts, but we need to be present as regards how algorithms are used to shape how we think. We must support the front-line organisations working to protect young people, researchers, youth workers and educators. They need proper funding, training and staffing to keep pace with the fast-evolving landscape. We need stronger international co-operation. It would be ideal if the EU moved quicker on this and gave us guidelines for which we could legislate. I would not see that as a bad thing because the harm travels globally and our response must be global too. Ireland has a significant role to play in shaping European and international digital safety frameworks. We must listen to young people themselves also. They are the experts in their own online experiences. Many want safer spaces, better reporting tools, clearer rules, real consequences and platforms that respect their safety as much as their data. The safety of anyone who accesses the online world is not a niche concern. It is one of the defining health issues of our time, and the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, attested to that last night during oral questions. The dangers are real. They are growing and already affecting the most vulnerable. We cannot allow algorithms to shape our children’s and young people's values more than parents, teachers and communities do. We cannot continue to rely on weak promises from platform giants while the evidence of harm increases all around us. It is essential that children and adults are protected in digital spaces and on social media platforms by preventing recommender system algorithms from targeting or manipulating them. To achieve this, we need to introduce effective new regulations, and legislation where necessary. Coimisiún na Meán must take a proactive role in regulating online safety and updating the digital safety code. Platforms must be held accountable when they fail to implement adequate safety measures. We need to work to make primary and secondary schools smartphone-free, strengthen online safety education, and ensure digital literacy becomes a core pillar of the education system. We must also support parents and schools by investing in public awareness campaigns and well-being training. Finally, dedicated resources should be allocated to a public health research programme examining the impact of digital devices and online platforms on children. We need to tread carefully around a blanket ban on online access for kids under 16. The online space is where many young people find connection and community. Young people reach out more online than through Childline, as they would have in the 1990s. We do not shut our children out of the real world; instead, we teach them how to navigate it safely and responsibly. We must take the same approach to the online world, guiding and equipping them to engage in what is safe and respectful. That means children who set up accounts, understand the games they play, discuss the risks, and set boundaries about private chats and unsupervised online interactions. We cannot treat the online world as separate from the real world. For children today, they are one and the same. The Internet can be a positive and empowering place but that future will not happen by accident. This will only happen when the Government and online platforms show leadership and accountability, take on regulation and, above all, give a commitment to protecting everyone's right to safety, whether online or offline because ultimately online activity manifests itself in the real world.

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