Two incredibly disturbing cases this week have further highlighted the dangers that children face on social media. Alexander McCartney spent years grooming children, mainly on Snapchat, before abusing them. He was jailed in the North last year but a review of the case found he was free to continue to use the Internet and abuse children online while on bail. One of those children, twelve-year-old Cimarron Thomas, died by suicide during that period. In a separate case, a man was jailed in Dublin yesterday for the rape of two children, one of whom was just ten, after he met and groomed them, also on Snapchat. Snapchat, like other social media platforms, is supposed to have a minimum age requirement of 13.

Children engage with the online space differently than we do, but the laws and policies we expect in real life are not replicated online in any way that meets similar standards of safety. Social media companies must be regulated, but it is not a legal framework alone that is required. We need to empower regulators and the Garda so there is adequate enforcement of those laws.

The last time we had an exchange on this, the Tánaiste invited greater discussion, but can he tell me what active steps the Government is taking to improve enforcement specifically? Is he satisfied that bail conditions in this jurisdiction that require defendants to stay off the Internet are properly enforced?

No, I am not. I have three points. First, I agree with the Deputy on this issue and I am quite alarmed in terms of online media, including social media. We talk a lot about the positive impacts, but not about the negative and detrimental impacts in many areas, most particularly child safety. To use parliamentary language, I am irked – this is a very weak word – by some of the advertisements I see from social media companies in national media telling us they are doing this, that and the other. That is not what we want. I do not wish to speak for the Deputy but it is not what I want. It is not what we are talking about here; we are talking about a minimum age below which children do not go on social media. Not anything else, not any sop. I just wanted to say that.

That is not a panacea, though.

I am not disagreeing with the Deputy on that, so just let me finish.

Third, the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, Deputy O’Donovan, is engaging with the Attorney General and others across government to examine what is possible within domestic law to take further action. I expect he will have proposals on that very shortly, and I hope within this calendar year.

Fourth, since entering this House in 2011, I have never called for a debate on any issue, but I actually think having one on this is something we would really welcome. We should have it. The Government will support the Deputy at the Business Committee in trying to find time to tease through what our practical proposals would be in this area.