Update: Bullying by Electronic Means – Communications, Energy & Natural Resources 23rd October, 2014

[Ref No.: 40877/14]

*  To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the extent to which the issue of bullying by electronic means may be combatted at national and/or European level; and if he will make a statement on the matter. – Bernard J. Durkan.

*    For WRITTEN answer on Thursday, 23rd October, 2014.

(674  Received on 20th October, 2014.)

REPLY

Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (Deputy Alex White)

This Government is committed to keeping our children and young people safe online, and to ensure that our legal and administrative systems reflect best practice in this area, and that people enjoy the same protection and rights online as already exist offline. To that end, the Internet Content Governance Advisory (ICGA) Group was established in December of last year to review existing policy and practice across the full range of issues that arise in this space, and to make recommendations on same.

The ICGA Group’s report was brought to Cabinet and published this summer and makes several recommendations aimed at protecting children and young people without unduly limiting their opportunities and rights online. Along with changes to institutional, administrative and legal structures, the report makes four specific recommendations on cyberbullying aimed at providing stronger supports for tackling this issue through primary and post-primary curricula and additional training and awareness measures. An Implementation Group has been established, and its Final Report, which I expect will be completed by year end, will set out the full set of measures to be introduced on foot of this process.

In terms of dealing with cyberbullying, our most immediate and important task is to help educate children, young people and parents as to the risks that can be found online, to support parents and teachers in explaining these issues to children and to identify the optimal solutions to mitigate these risks and protect children. In this regard, the Department of Education and Skills (DES), who are represented on the Implementation Group, have a number of ongoing actions in place, for children of a variety of different ages. This is a complex and rapidly developing area, and government, industry and parents all have a role to play in ensuring that children can take full advantage of the opportunities offered online in a safe environment. The ongoing work across Government in this area will bring significant improvements in our regulatory and support system in this area,but the process of adaptation will continue, and these are issues that we will need to refer to again in the future.