Ireland will go it alone if agreement is not reached at EU level to ban social media for children under 16, the Minister for Communications has said.
Patrick O’Donovan told the Dáil it was his firm belief that there should be an overall restriction at EU level and said he had been engaging with his EU counterparts on this.
But he added that Ireland would move ahead at national level if consensus is not reached.
“If a common approach at EU level is not achieved, I will seek Government approval to take action at a national level,” the minister said.
Online safety for children is one of Ireland’s priorities for its presidency of the European Union later this year.
Mr O’Donovan said that the new audio visual and media services directive, which will be published during the presidency, may also yield proposals to protect children online.
The minister also said he would host what was described as a “high level conference” in Dublin during the presidency on the topic.
Fianna Fáil TD Erin McGreehan said she was extremely worried about the issue and what she said was a “wait and see approach”.
She added it was perceived that child welfare was dismissed due to the dependence of the Irish economy on tech companies.
Separately, representatives from tech companies Meta, TikTok, Snap, Google and Microsoft are appearing appear before the Oireachtas Committee on Children and Equality to discuss online safety.
