The US Surgeon General sought tobacco-style labelling on social media this week. He cited the damage to mental health and well-being for younger people due to high levels of exposure to social media which damages self-esteem, causes feelings of depression and a decline in the quality and quantity of their relationships, particularly for young women. He cited that these are not a failure of willpower or parenting, but rather the unleashing of powerful technologies without adequate safety measures.

There are two questions I wish to pose. Should we ask the ESRI, which has the Growing Up in Ireland database, to explore the impact of social media exposure to young people in Ireland? Given the EU approach to putting the onus on platforms, are the Irish platforms assessing the risk of exposure, or uncontrolled exposure in some cases, to young people on social media?

The Government, through the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, and her Department, has established Coimisiún na Meán. This is something which Deputy Bruton started in the Department to look at the harmful element of social media. While we all know how great social media can be, particularly in the context of our own work in engaging with younger people, the harms are clear for us to see also. It is a good idea that we look at the impact of social media and that the ESRI carries out that work. That is something the Minister could or should take on board.

As for the platforms themselves, by establishing Coimisiún na Meán, we have said clearly that the days of self-regulation are over. There should be and is already close engagement between Coimisiún na Meán and the platforms to make sure they have the right mechanisms in place to try to prevent the type of harmful behaviours we see on social media having an impact on young people. A broader picture and piece of work needs to be done. That is certainly something I would support.