I would like to raise the issue of online safety for children in Ireland. The Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Charles Flanagan, will be aware that cyberbullying and access to graphic adult material online such as pornography and violence is increasing in Ireland at an alarming rate. I refer to the availability of negative and exploitative online material to children from the youngest age through all the devices that are available such as mobile phones, tablets and gaming apps The emotional and mental anxiety experienced by children and young adults is at epidemic proportions with increased levels of self-harming among teenagers as a result of online peer pressure. On occasion this tragically results in victims taking their own lives. We are failing our young people by not taking the practical steps in implementing a system which educates Irish children in positive online behaviour. According to a recent OECD report Irish 15 year olds report incidents of cyberbullying at comparatively high rates and are more likely to use the Internet for extreme use by accessing harmful and damaging material.

Children need a basic building block, a skill set that will serve them in good stead for lifelong engagement with the Internet that will ensure that they can cope on the occasions when the cyber wolf comes to the door. The skill set needs to include discernment; critical thinking; empathy; and the ability to cope when presented with uncomfortable behaviour.

Technology is required that develops these relevant and age appropriate attitudes and strategies in a supervised, safe and controlled cyber environment. Technology is the pen and paper of our time and it is the means by which our children and young adults communicate today. The problem with the Internet and social networks is that we have never been taught how to use it. The Internet and social networks developed organically on a global scale without any conditions, rules or boundaries as to what is permissible behaviour. It was left up to humankind to police ourselves and as a result bad behaviour was given as equal an opportunity to flourish as good behaviour. As there are no rules and no repercussions, and because an individual is anonymous behind a computer screen he or she can inflict a lot of damage. This has to stop and it begins with practical education from the earliest age.

CyberSmarties.com, an international award-winning company based in Limerick, has had detailed discussions with officials from the Department of Education and Skills, the Garda authorities and Opposition Deputies. CyberSmarties is a safe social network for children aged seven to 12 years old and has been operating since 2015. More than 80,000 primary school children use the application and it operates in and out of school. It is a fully monitored, locked down social network for children, where no adults have access to the website. It is the first social network to authenticate a child as a real child through their schools. CyberSmarties' research has been used internationally and is recognised as the leading expert in child-safe social networks. CyberSmarties has worked closely with the national protection services within An Garda Síochána and is recognised by them. I ask the Minister to ensure that the CyberSmarties system is rolled out to our primary schools under the auspices of the Department of Education and Skills.

It is a topical issue and I thank the Deputy for raising it. I am the mother of four teenagers who have grown up knowing nothing else except technology in their hands. I am also the proud parent of two children who have used technology as part of their educational offering from our local school. They have been very successful and have had a good experience with it.

The Deputy is correct. There is not a mam or dad, or probably any adult, who is not concerned about the amount of time our children spend online but, more important, about the material they can potentially access, or the people who have access to our vulnerable children. Not only do we need to take it very seriously as parents - it is challenging and difficult, and I am not saying it is an easy thing to do - but the Government also has to take the health and safety of all of our children extremely seriously, and that is particularly true in the online environment.

The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, will bring forward the online safety Bill in the autumn. We propose that, hopefully, this will happen with everybody's input, because it will have to go to pre-legislative scrutiny following the public consultation that has taken place over the past couple of months. We are going to ask all web providers to operate under a new safety code. There will be a clear expectation that they have to take responsibility and measured steps to ensure that children and young, vulnerable adults are safe online. We have to absolutely ban and outlaw cyberbullying material that is designed - it is totally mad to think about this - to encourage children to try to be bulimic or try to be anorexic, or to teach them how to self-harm and how to do damage to themselves. I do not understand a person who would create content like that but our children are getting access to that kind of content just by being available to YouTube, Google and all of the other apps that they enjoy using socially with their friends. The laws of the land have to ensure that not only are there rules, but that they are enforced. The new online safety Bill and a new online safety commissioner will play a pivotal role and we, as a House, should make sure we get that legislation drafted and passed as soon as we can.

Parents have a huge responsibility at home but schools and teachers also have a huge responsibility, not only to make sure there is a digital strategy and a safety strategy in every school, but also to ensure that we teach our kids, in this new environment, to recognise what is good or to recognise somebody who is out to do them harm, because most of our children are young and naive, and they believe what they are told and never assume it is a bad thing.

I have no knowledge of the company, CyberSmarties, to which the Deputy referred. I checked in the Department and I know it has a hugely valuable reputation. It has had enormous interaction and I suggest that it needs to have more. If it is doing work with An Garda Síochána, there is nothing that we cannot learn in regard to best practice from an international perspective. We all want the same thing, which is for our children to enjoy the new world of technology but to get the best out of it, and for us to protect them as a State, as parents and as school educators from the worst aspects of this.

Everybody recognises the dangers and the problems but we need to do something about it. This company, which is recognised internationally, has been working with the Department of Education and Skills. Many of us did not grow up in the digital age. I believe practical Internet education is the very same as driving lessons for a young person who is going to drive a car or stabilisers for a bicycle, and is essential to protect children online. The CyberSmarties technology is a practical educational platform, which has a forward-thinking approach to online safety. It has been introduced to the Department, and the Garda authorities are on board. I ask the Minister to encourage her Government colleagues to implement this technology in all of our primary schools as a matter of priority. I hope this could become the subject of discussions on the forthcoming budget between the Departments of Education and Skills and Finance to make sure this technology, which has been proven to work, can be available to our young people. The parents of 80,000 children are paying for this online. They find it helpful and useful and it gives them peace of mind. Parents are living a nightmare due to worry about what their children are accessing online. We need to assist them and support them, and we can do it through our primary schools.

I hear the Deputy loud and clear. If there is any agency or organisation that has developed technology that will assist us in the Webwise programme that is delivered to all schools, then, obviously, we have to listen to it. Perhaps this should not be exclusive and I do not want to give the Deputy the impression that there are not other people available. If this company is successful and established, and is doing exactly what parents and educators want, which is to ensure we guard our children, we certainly have to learn with it and co-operate with it. I can certainly re-engage and talk to my colleagues, and that is no problem.

We need to learn from the technology that is available from multiple platforms. The Webwise programme within our schools needs not only to be advanced at the speed the technology is improving and increasing, but it has to be consistent in every school in every county. Each of our schools is run by a board of management and those boards of management are responsible for devising policies, including digital strategies, bullying strategies and self-care strategies. There has to be consistency on this. We need to ensure that what happens in Donegal happens in Dublin and Dunboyne as well. On that basis, when we establish the online safety rules and their governance and enforcement in the legislation this year, it has to feed into a digital strategy in all of our primary and secondary schools.