Major Strides Being Made to Protect Children in Cork Online – O’Shea

Fine Gael’s wants to secure young people in Cork future with plan for age verification for accessing online sites, Cork North West Fine Gael TD Deputy John Paul O’Shea has said.

Deputy O’Shea said new steps are being taken to introduce age verification to better protect children in Cork online. “Fine Gael and my colleague Minister Patrick O’Donovan, want to secure our children’s future. Parents are doing their part in trying to protect their children from online dangers like pornography, cyberbullying and harmful algorithms that can lead to exploitation. Recently we’ve seen huge strides in online safety and it’s whole-of-Government priority”.

Deputy O’Shea added “A recent Fine Gael Online Safety Survey gathered the views of more than 2,200 parents and guardians across the country. It found that there is overwhelming support for age limits and verifications. This report highlighted the issues and now we want to address them. The government is developing a trusted age-verification tool through the digital wallet to ensure only adults can access adult content. The new digital wallet will soon be launched and will be used to confirm ages of internet users, making sure platforms like YouTube and Instagram are properly held to account. On top of age verification, Fine Gael has also allocated €6m to schools across the country to help keep them smartphone free, with 65 schools in Cork benefitting this year.

“We’re supporting safer school environments with mobile-phone restrictions, that will reduce distraction, improve wellbeing and support teachers. Our Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton has been working with schools, teachers, parents and students. Safer screens mean secure futures. Significant progress is being made at EU level, including major fines for non-compliance with online safety rules. When Ireland assumes the EU Presidency in 2026, we have a chance to take the lead on this important issue and deliver stronger protection measures for children. Protecting our children online is a key priority for Fine Gael and we have taken big steps to ensure parents in Cork aren’t left to handle this on their own,” concluded Deputy O’Shea.