I wish to raise the issue of online safety, a matter that was raised by my colleague, Deputy Mary Lou McDonald, yesterday, along with members of Fianna Fáil and the Labour Party.

We all know that, despite the best efforts of their parents, children and teenagers are able to access on the Internet and social media inappropriate material which can have a negative consequence for them, their families and society at large. The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, ISPCC, has stated that online safety is the child protection issue of our generation. High-profile cases such as that which has been in the news this week rightly draw the public's attention to this issue. Such cases need to be a call to action. When more and more young people are accessing social media sites, the Internet and different applications, we all have a responsibility but particularly those of us in these Houses, to take action.

Some good work has been done. For example, the action plan for online safety made a positive contribution and it is important to acknowledge that. However, there is other important work that needs to be done. The Digital Safety Commissioner Bill 2017, introduced by my colleague, Deputy Ó Laoghaire, in February 2018, received unanimous support in the Dáil. Since then, however, it has been stuck on Committee Stage. That Bill proposes the appointment of a regulator with real powers in a stand-alone office. The proposed commissioner would give meaningful support to the State in its efforts to combat cyberbullying, the prevalence of harmful communication and material, micro-targeting and online abuse. That Bill is supported by the ISPCC, Cybersafe Ireland and the Office of the Ombudsman for Children. The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment has also indicated his support for the broad thrust of the Bill and has stated that he is in the process of producing his own legislation. As yet, however, neither the heads or a Bill have been published. He indicated that he will draw on the ideas in Teachta Ó Laoghaire's Bill and from other sources.

We heard from Deputy Howlin yesterday that he has ideas on this issue too. I see from press reports this morning that the British model he suggested may be running into some technical problems. All of us in this House have suggestions and ideas about what needs to be done. None of them is necessarily wrong and some complement each other. It does not matter what we call the legislation, who introduces it or who gets the credit for it, what matters is that we need to do this quickly in order to protect our children.

Let us consider two options. We have available to us a Bill that got unanimous support in this House almost a year and a half ago. It is on Committee Stage. The Government could use that process to feed in all the different contributions and strengthen that Bill if needs be. If it is not in favour of doing that, let us convene an all-party committee on online safety, working with everyone and taking on board their ideas, to get a Bill drafted on an inclusive basis and to bring it before the House before the summer recess. We need to work together on this. We have lost far too much time. Will the Tánaiste support either of these options?

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and I appreciate the spirit in which he has raised it, which represents an effort to get us to respond collectively. Government and Opposition have done really good work collectively on some big issues, climate action, housing and other social changes that I am glad to say this country has managed to deliver in recent years. This is another one but it is a very difficult issue to get right. That is why the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton, has been very clear in speeches he has made about his commitment to introducing new legislation in this area. The Government's view is that the days of self-regulation online are over and that states now need to get involved in putting in place appropriate levels of regulation to ensure we can protect vulnerable people, particularly children. Media coverage of events that have happened in the past few days are a reminder of that but it has been an issue for some years. Any parent in this Chamber is more than aware of the dangers of allowing a child to even use his or her mobile phone.

The State needs to respond but this is an international challenge that lots of countries are grappling with. The Minister has opened up a consultation process for stakeholders on a series of questions with a view to trying to bring forward comprehensive legislation. I do not think he will be concerned whether Deputy Ó Laoghaire's Bill is used as the basis for that or whether it is new legislation. This is a cross-party issue. We would welcome the input of others who have been working on this. We worked with Deputy Howlin on the Bill he produced and the Government has shown a willingness not to get party political about who brings forward the legislation. The issue is that we have to get it right. Rather than try to get this done before the summer without perhaps having as broad a consultation as necessary to get it right, we need a slightly longer timeframe to consult with all the political parties, non-governmental organisations, NGOs, academics and industry interests involved in this area in order that we can by the end of the year bring forward legislation sponsored by the Government but supported, I hope, by many other parties.

I welcome the Tánaiste's comments but clarity does not come from speeches, it comes from legislation. The problem is that there has not been collective work on this. Deputy Ó Laoghaire produced a Bill. We are willing to have it strengthened by anybody and everybody. Let us get this right and bring all the ideas together. The Bill has gone through pre-legislative scrutiny. Deputy Ó Laoghaire has asked the Minister to sit down with him and discuss the Bill. The Minister has not even responded.

I have approached this matter from the point of view that in this House we have the collective wisdom, ability and motivation to get this right. We have a Bill that is at an advanced stage. We are open to dealing with all and hearing the various views on how to strengthen it. That is possible. There is a committee dealing with that legislation. Let us use that and if we cannot, let us set up a committee on online digital safety and take all the views together so that we get this right.

The Tánaiste is right to say there is an international aspect to this but the State has failed to ratify the Budapest Convention. The latter would give gardaí more powers in respect of online safety, access to data and so on, particularly in the context of child pornography.

I have asked two specific questions from the point of view that I have already introduced legislation and worked with the Minister to get it over the line and we have another Bill that we are working on with the Minister to do likewise. Let us do the same with this Bill. We have wasted 18 months. The Tánaiste stated that there is a public consultation process but that finished two months ago and the report relating to it has not been published. Is the Tánaiste open to allowing the Bill progress and letting us take everyone's feedback on board? Is he open to the establishment of an all-party committee on online safety in order that we might take an inclusive approach to this matter?

I do not want to speak directly for the Minister. He is interested in results and in getting the right Bill enacted as soon as possible. He is not interested in trying to get something done quickly only to find out a few months later that we have missed something. I will certainly ask the Minister to meet Deputy Ó Laoghaire, who is interested in this area and has done a lot of work on it. I am familiar with the issues with which the Deputy is trying to deal in his legislation but I do not have the detail of it all.

The Government wants to work with Sinn Féin, the Labour Party, Fianna Fáil and all of the other parties in this House to try to get this right. It is a significant concern for families, parents and young people around the country. Many vulnerable people are being targeted online whether through cyberbullying or exposure to extreme content, pornography or violence or something else and we recognise that we need to respond to that. We have a Minister who is very open to it and who wants to work with all in this House to make that happen.