Yesterday, the High Court heard details of a deeply disturbing case of child abuse. A 13-year-old boy who abused his six-year-old sister was given a tablet at the age of five. There was no parental controls on the device and he had totally unsupervised access to the Internet. By the age of just six he was viewing pornography for hours every day. This boy ultimately uploaded child abuse images of his sister online, prompting his arrest. Sentencing the boy, Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring likened unchecked Internet access to children playing with matches.

Details of that shocking case were being heard as Australia introduced its social media ban for children under 16. It is a world first and we will all certainly be watching with huge interest to see how it progresses. However, I have a number of concerns about that kind of ban. For a start, most social media companies already have an age limit of 13 and we all know that just its not being enforced. Raising the age limit to 16 will similarly be easy to evade with teenagers creating fake accounts using virtual private networks, VPNs. Crucially, delaying access to social media sites does nothing about the recommender algorithms that are feeding children toxic content. We now have mountains of evidence about the threats posed by these algorithms. One study found teenage boys were being "bombarded" with misogynistic content within minutes of signing up to TikTok. Another study found 13-year-old users being shown videos about self harm and suicide within 20 minutes of setting up accounts. Social media platforms now routinely show graphic, violent or racist videos to people who are not looking for that content. This is not just having a hugely damaging impact on children but it is massively corrosive for society. It is spreading misinformation and hate through communities like wildfire.

I will be the first to acknowledge this is a hugely complex issue and there are no easy solutions. In know the Minister is currently looking at age verification for social media users. While I think that is part of the solution, it amounts to putting a sticking plaster on a gaping wound. There are also huge privacy concerns about mandating something like a digital wallet to access services online.

Each of us in this House knows we have to do more to protect children online. We know the current system is failing them. An obvious first step is to regulate the algorithms that boost extremist content to huge audiences online. By default, those systems should be off. Does the Taoiseach agree and will the Government act on this?

I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue. The Government is talking a whole-of-society and a whole-of-government approach to online safety, recognising the rapid pace of change in the digital world and also the need for very co-ordinated, robust and rights-respecting responses. That response spans regulation, education, parental supports, age verification measures, curriculum reforms and school-level policies.

I am aware of that case yesterday and I heard reports in the media in relation to it. It does illustrate the enormous challenge and dangers here. Overall, we have to, through our education system, create a culture of strong self esteem and self respect among children from the earliest of ages. We have had to do this in the past to varying degrees in respect of other issues, be it drug addiction, alcohol addiction and so on. The most fundamental way of assisting society to cope is through very good policies at an early age and programmes from a psychological level which increase the self esteem of children to withstand and be resilient in the face of whatever comes at them in life subsequently. Of course, we can do much more than that.

Curricular reform is happening. There are school level policies and so on. The Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, with Coimisiún na Meán, now have stronger powers. There are obligations around harmful content. Stronger age verification for adult material is very important and risk mitigation requirements are designed to protect children.

At EU level, we are engaging. The digital age of majority must be considered across all member states to ensure harmonised protections under the Digital Services Act. We are also developing a secure privacy-focused approach to age verification and we are working to include age verification functionality in Ireland's digital wallet under the EU eIDAS project. That is about giving parents and young people a robust Government-backed mechanism to protect privacy. A large-scale pilot is planned for early next year.

We are strengthening digital well-being and online safety supports in schools. We have updated our child protection procedures. There is a lot happening in education, to be fair. There is a digital strategy for schools up to 2027. Oide technology in education provides professional learning for teachers and Webwise continues to lead on national awareness training, classroom resources on cyberbullying, image sharing, social media and emerging online risks. We have also acted to reduce mobile phone distraction and support student well-being during school day. We have introduced the full ban on personal phone use in primary schools and strict restrictions at post-primary level. I remember last year when the pouches were introduced, they were ridiculed in here. It was a classic Opposition response.

The time is up Taoiseach. Deputy Cairns to respond.

Some 462 schools have drawn €6 million in respect of that, which shows people have responded positively to the initiative.

This is something governments across the world are grappling with and in many ways the horse has already bolted. Social media companies have been around for 20 years and they have never been properly regulated. To date, it has been self-regulation which has amounted to no regulation at all. Now we are playing catch up.

One things is clear; the algorithms are increasingly dangerous. Violent, racist and misogynistic content is not just tolerated but it is literally boosted by these algorithms, making them go viral.

I recognise there are loads of things in the Taoiseach's list of things the Government is looking at but none of them were the algorithms and a lot of them placed the responsibility on the user and on teaching the user about safety online. What we need to do, as a very first and obvious step, is address the algorithms. Will the Taoiseach reconsider, and will he look at this?

We will be examining all aspects of this, including the impacts and use of algorithms to direct people to certain areas. That clearly is an issue. In terms of legislation, that is already in place in the powers Coimisiún na Meán has. In terms Digital Services Act, in particular, we are in a position to hold platforms to account. The European Commission has launched investigations into the influence of these powerful algorithms, especially on young users online. The European Commission is already working on that aspect.

I am asking what the Taoiseach is doing.

We are part of the European Commission. We are part of the European Union. The big row and argument between the US and Europe is that the US thinks we are over-regulating. I do not think we are but that is the US's assertion, that Europe is over regulating in the digital space. The Commission has been very strong.

Thank you, Taoiseach.

So have our regulators as well. We are part of the harmonised regulatory framework.

Thank you, Taoiseach. Deputy Paul Nicholas Gogarty is next.

The Digital Services Act is a game-changer in respect of this.