This week marks national eating disorders awareness week. I raise with the Taoiseach the damaging impact social media is having on the self-esteem and mental health of our young people, in particular when it comes to eating disorders. Only a few months ago, the Facebook whistleblower, Ms Frances Haugen, reported that Instagram targets pro-anorexia content towards young girls who show a vulnerability of low self-esteem and negative body image.

The Instagram algorithm is basically selling these young people an eating disorder. Ireland is the European hub for almost all of our social media companies. We have responsibility to address these issues adequately in the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022. What is the Government doing to protect our young people from the dangerous manipulation of social media companies?

That legislation is on Second Stage in the Seanad and represents the most effective way in which we can respond to this very serious issue. In parallel with that are the ongoing programmes in education in terms of building up self-esteem and self-respect among children at the earliest ages. There are a variety of psychologically-informed programmes that can help children to withstand pressures both in-person in yards and so on when meeting other kids in social environments and now with the growing threat from online content.