I thank the Minister of State for his remarks at the end. I do not think it can be a case of reconfiguring the existing cohort of staff that we have. The reality of that would mean a reduction in the staff or the number of hours for a particular school. Those schools were allocated those positions for a reason, which is the high absenteeism rate. I ask the Minister of State to bring back to the Minister the request for a review of all counties to see where the absenteeism rate is at a high level and aim the resourc…

I want to speak, but if you want the Minister of State speak first-----

I will let the Minister of State speak on it.

I want to support the Bill. I am one of the 5,000 agents in the country who has been losing money for the last 20-odd years. In my case it is in the last 15 years as an agent of the national lottery because we do not earn any income from the sales and because the sales are being made in the bookies. The media has highlighted the significant amount - the €60 million-plus - that is lost to the good causes fund that distributes money throughout the country in areas of sport and health. That is what the focus of the le…

It is loss of income.

In response to Senator Crowe, it is important to mention that the private operator purchased the licence for €400 million-----

It is gone into the Exchequer for the building of the national children's hospital. That is important to note and gets lost in the discussion.

I welcome the Minister of State. I echo the compliments to her on the work she has done in this area. She has done a huge amount of work and even the fact we are here to take this legislation today is groundbreaking for special education. When we met the Minister of State last week in the Joint Committee on Autism, one of the major focuses of attention was this legislation, and those of all parties and none are fully supportive of it. I welcome the great support that has come from all of the advocacy groups. I will…

I concur with the comments of Senators Higgins and Malcolm Byrne. As was emphasised by the Oireachtas joint committee, it is extremely important that there be an online safety commissioner. I thank the Minister for taking that on board and bringing a proposal for such a position here today. I concur with those who have thanked the staff in the Department. Every phone call any of us made on this matter was replied to and there was full interaction and discussion on any parts of the Bill we asked about. I will emphas…

I thank the Minister for accepting the proposals we put forward on the sporting organisations. It stemmed from a thought-provoking congress when Larry McCarthy, the president of the GAA, put it forward that sporting organisations needed to get on board in this regard. I believe that in the past month, the GAA has engaged with Google. The Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, was recently in Croke Park to work on this issue. I am delighted that a provision that they would liaise is being put into the legislation. I al…

I welcome what Senators Malcolm Byrne and Cassells have put forward and compliment them on it. It is very important and I thank the Minister for indicating she will accept it. As Senator Malcolm Byrne said, in our discussions at committee level, we find ourselves more informed through discussing issues with that younger generation. They are miles ahead of us in regard to technology and what they see every day. We met the Australian commissioner and hers is the country we need to look to for best practice. It was hi…

I move amendment No. 102: In page 82, between lines 12 and 13, to insert the following: “(e) that service providers introduce robust measures to ensure a minimum age verification of account holders of 15 years old.”.

I will speak to amendment No. 102. I also spoke to it when we spoke on the section in the previous debate. This amendment seeks to ensure that service providers will introduce robust measures to ensure a minimum age verification of account holders of 15 years of age. We met with various companies during the pre-legislative scrutiny and so on. The companies have varying minimum age requirements for accounts but in reality, and we all know the facts, there are children as young as ten and 11 years of age who hold soc…

I also speak as a parent whose eldest child is ten and as someone who is very fearful about what children are able to do. It is extremely important, which is why I wanted to put this down again to ensure this is implemented as soon as possible. Based on what the Minister has said, I will withdraw amendment No. 102.

I concur with the comments that have been made. As Senator Cassells said, this is probably the most important legislation this Dáil and Seanad will pass. It will have a significant impact on various parts of our society and will protect our children. I speak as a parent of three children under ten years old. That is all ahead of me. It is important that we put in stringent regulations. That is why the whole issue of verification is important. I thank the Minister for coming to the Seanad, starting this legislation …

I apologise. I do not know why I thought the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, was here for one.

I just want to make the point that the Minister committed to ensuring that every single amendment put forward by any Member was debated, discussed and talked about. That does not happen with all legislation. I thank the Minister for that.

As I said, everyone had an opportunity. It is very important legislation. I also thank Deputy Niamh Smyth, chairperson of the committee. I forget the number of organisations we met within the course of pre-legislative scrutiny. The committee, with the full support of Deputy Niamh Smyth, felt that every organisation that wanted to meet with it should have the opportunity to do so. That allowed us to inform our views and the recommendations we put forward. More than 90% of what we proposed is encompassed in the legis…

The Acting Chairperson is rushing me off.

I support the comments of my colleague, Senator Dolan. I concur with comments made with regard to the Alzheimer Society of Ireland. I was unable to make its briefing today but I met representatives of the association with the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, some weeks ago in Longford. I praise the work the organisation does. Any financial support it gets is most welcome and makes a major difference for many families. I will speak on another issue that has been brought to my attention. I do so on behalf of a famil…