Online Safety: Motion Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-26 ============================================================ Patricia Stephenson (SD), Labour Panel I really agree with the spirit of this motion and I am delighted we have the opportunity to discuss these issues because they are pertinent and pervasive and they affect everyone across the country. I have a challenge with some of the wording, such as "Seanad Éireann ... agrees that ... Ireland has a robust online safety framework". We are repeatedly told Ireland has some of the strongest online safety regulation in Europe. I do not think we can make that argument given what we have seen over the past few months. We are also told the era of self-regulation by big tech platforms is over, yet at EU level, particularly with the digital omnibus proposals, self-regulation is back on the agenda. These proposals risk stripping back many hard-won rights and protections and will weaken enforcement architecture around the digital space. This is something the Government has explicitly come out in support of. The idea we can self-congratulate about the era of self-regulation being over is not in line with what is happening at EU level or with the Government's position on the digital omnibus. We cannot declare victory in that space when so many safeguards are actively being diluted at EU level. The omnibus package completely undermines user protections we have achieved up to this point. Here at home, it feels as though responsibility is being pushed back onto parents, children and victims, rather than it being placed where it belongs, on the platforms that design and profit from these systems, on the Government and on us as legislators. Our regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, stated at the Oireachtas AI committee that it does not have the power to directly take down sexual abuse images. This is a clear failure. Victims of image-based abuse should not be left to navigate opaque reporting systems that seldom work, while harm spreads in seconds. The Data Protection Commission told the committee that the so-called nudification apps had not come onto its radar until the Grok scandal. Nudification apps have been around for many years, so the idea they have only come onto the radar as a consequence of the Grok scandal shocks me and makes me we do not have a robust safety framework. I do not think we are ready for the new challenges that face us. These nudification apps were not hiding. They were in plain sight, yet they did not come onto the radar until there was a massive scandal. That really concerns me. We have an issue with reactive, crisis-driven policymaking when it comes to AI. We are not anticipatory. Academics are writing about this. The risks are well noted, so there is no reason we should not be reacting better. There is a fundamental structural contradiction. We speak about digital excellence and innovation, yet online safety is housed in a Department whose core mandate is enterprise and industry. I do not think AI protection and regulation belongs there. I do not think it makes sense. There is an inherent tension in this. Regulation must be robust and independent, not influenced by any economic interests in any sector, particularly when it comes to the safety of children. The Social Democrats do not support a blanket ban for under-16s from social media because bans are blunt instruments. They risk driving young people into less visible, less regulated spaces and do nothing to address the design of the platforms. We can take children off online spaces and make it more difficult for them to access them, but we are not making those spaces safer or doing anything to address the negative algorithms that push hateful comment to us, to children and to people across society. They create toxic online communities, which is spreading into our everyday space. Let there be no doubt about that. We need regulation of these companies, with meaningful penalties and prosecution of individuals in companies responsible for perpetuating these harmful conditions. That is why it is important we look at making the Internet a safer space. The Internet is here to stay. We all access and use it and will all use it forever. The idea of taking children off it and not trying to make the space that exists safer seems pointless. They will get to 17, go onto these toxic spaces and be influenced. We have seen adults take their own lives because of the influence of chatbots. We see a lot of harm to people over the age of 18 all the way up to later in life. It is absurd that we are not trying to tackle the safety of those spaces. We cannot continue with a model that treats these companies as neutral hosts. These companies are not passive actors. They use algorithms to amplify, recommend and monetise content. They monetise our shock, our horror and our clicks. They want to keep us on the screens for longer so that they make money off us. They curate, prioritise and profit. If any company exercises editorial control and profit-driven amplification, then it should carry responsibilities as a publisher. That means real liability for systemic harms, real transparency around recommender systems and real consequences when platforms fail to act. Online safety needs to be much more than parental education or responsibility falling solely to parents through TV adverts. It requires structural accountability. We need stronger enforcement powers, anticipatory regulation of emerging harms like AI-generated abuse, genuine independence and oversight, and a clear shift in responsibility back to the companies that design and profit from these systems. That is how we protect users and children. That is what online safety looks like. I cannot support this motion, not because I do not agree with the principle of it or because I do not welcome the opportunity for this debate, but because I cannot say Ireland has a robust online safety framework at this time. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-26/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:42+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-02-26