Parent and student charter Bill
Deputy Byrne complained that the long-promised charter Bill had still not been brought forward despite repeated announcements. The Tánaiste said it was well advanced, would go to Cabinet soon, and had been delayed by Brexit priorities.
My issue is literally on promised legislation. Indeed, were the Ceann Comhairle to give an award for the most promised legislation, it would have to go to the parent and student charter Bill. It was announced in December 2016 and underwent committee scrutiny in 2017. The then Minister, Deputy Bruton, at the 2018 teacher conferences, promised online safety protections in the context of that Bill. As far as I know, though, the Bill still has not been written or presented to the Dáil. There has just been a draft. Last week, the same Minister made yet another promise regarding the online safety Bill. He said that he would write it, but it has not been written. When will we see these Bills and when will Fine Gael take the issue seriously?
Why was the announcement of the online safety Bill made this week? Was it connected to media queries from The Guardian and The Observer newspapers about Fine Gael lobbying on behalf of data and social media companies? Those queries would have been received last week. Is it the case that a decision was made to re-announce unwritten legislation relating to online safety in light of that publicity at the weekend?
Comment on this
My understanding is that a great deal of work has been done on the parent and student charter Bill and that it will be before the Cabinet in the next few weeks. It is no secret that the Government has had to prioritise in recent weeks the preparation and delivery of the omnibus Bill on Brexit. That has resulted in some delays in other areas, but I understand that the Bill the Deputy referred to is well advanced and will be before the Cabinet shortly.