Social Media Dail Éireann — 2026-07-15 ============================================================ Niamh Smyth (FF), Cavan-Monaghan I thank the Deputy very much for raising this important issue. I pay my respects and express my condolences to the family of Ann Widdecombe. It was a shocking and heinous crime that happened to her. It is the same thing for the lady in Killarney. However, the points the Deputy raised are so true and accurate. Social media platforms fuel this. To allow comments like that to sit on the account of somebody who has lost their life in such tragic circumstances, with the further traumatic impact that has on her family, is just not acceptable. I really am of the view that the likes of The Irish Times or the Irish Independent would not be allowed to publish comments like that. They fuel that hate and allow it to continue and be exacerbated. To perpetuate that kind of vile commentary online is shocking. I am going to take time after this debate to look at the Instagram account the Deputy raised today to see for myself. I do not disbelieve the Deputy. It upsets me so much to see that is allowed. Where is the monitoring of it? The Deputy and I both sat on the Oireachtas committee where we had companies in and were promised that social media platforms would not be the wild west any more. What the Deputy has presented today certainly does not concur with that sentiment. I thank the Deputy for raising the important issue of online safety. It is a priority for me and across the Government, particularly when it comes to the protection of children, women and young people. It is one of the key themes of Ireland's EU Presidency and it is an explicit whole-of-government priority in the national digital strategy, published in February of this year. We have a robust online safety framework in Ireland that should be respected and regarded. It comprises the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022, the EU's Digital Services Act, and the terrorist content online regulation. Together, they place obligations on online platforms, including social media platforms, to put measures in place to prevent and limit the spread of illegal and harmful content on their services. Last July, the framework was enhanced when the online safety code came into full force. The code includes provisions designed to strengthen the protection of children online. For example, it obliges designated video-sharing platforms to implement measures to ensure that under-18s do not have access to adult-only material, such as pornography. To comply with that provision, platforms are required to use robust age assurance measures. As the Deputy knows, the Government is working with our European colleagues to come up with an age limit on access to social media platforms. I think that is a must. The Government is developing an age verification tool to support compliance with that obligation. It will only confirm to a platform whether a person is over or under 18. No other personal information is revealed to the platform, so it will meet high standards for protection of privacy. That tool will be offered as a service on the digital wallet, on a voluntary basis. Coimisiún na Meán, as Ireland's online safety and media regulator, plays an important and central role in supervising and enforcing the regulatory framework. I have worked particularly hard on the prohibited practices piece, which will come into effect on 2 August. --- 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/dail/2026-07-15/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:08+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-07-15