Will cybersafety forum discuss ban on phones?

PANELLISTS from Facebook and Google are to join gardaí and children’s campaigners at the Government’s forum on cybersafety tomorrow – but, it was unclear last night whether they would address the growing calls among parents, guardians and childcare experts for age restrictions on smartphones.

There is increasing alarm over the unfettered access children get to online sites through their phones, following the Irish Daily Mail’s campaign and three successive polls showing parents are overwhelmingly in favour of age restrictions.

Leo Varadkar, when asked if he would consider an age restriction for the devices, last month said ‘it is definitely something that we will give consideration to’. The Taoiseach told the Mail it would need to be teased out, and if ‘anyone has a draft piece of legislation we could examine, I’d certainly welcome that and we’d give it full consideration’.

Communications Minister Denis Naughten is to attend. A spokesman last night confirmed there will be two panel discussions at the event, which will run from 9am to 1pm in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham in Dublin tomorrow.

Detective Superintendent Declan Daly from the Garda Síochána will participate in the first panel, alongside Tanya Ward of the Children’s Rights Alliance, Ryan Meade who works in public policy for Google, Ana Niculescu of the Hotline.ie anonymous reporting service for illegal online content and Siofra Harkin from the youth advisory panel at webwise.ie.

The second panel includes Niamh Sweeney, who works for Facebook, DIT academic Brian O’Neill, Grainia Long from the ISPCC, Antóin Ó Lachtnáin of Digital Rights Ireland, and Cillian Fogarty from the youth advisory panel at Webwise.ie.