On 4 September 2024, the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly established an Online Health Taskforce to develop a public health response to harms caused to children and young people by certain types of online activity.
The Taskforce is being chaired by children’s rights advocate Jillian van Turnhout. It has been set up in recognition of a growing body of evidence from Ireland and internationally, showing the link between online activity and physical and mental health harms including anxiety, sleep deprivation, eating disorders, self-harm and suicide ideation.
The members of the Taskforce are as follows.
Jillian van Turnhout – Taskforce Chair
Jillian van Turnhout is a Chartered Director and is accredited in corporate governance by INSEAD. A former independent Senator, Jillian influenced legislation on public health issues and advocated for the rights of children and young people. Her previous roles include serving as Chief Executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance, President of the National Youth Council of Ireland, Board Chair of Early Childhood Ireland and Co-founder of the European Youth Forum. Jillian has been awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite from France, an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, and the WAGGGS Medal of Service in 2023.
Professor Mary Horgan
Professor Mary Horgan is interim Chief Medical Officer and Professor of Infectious Diseases at University College Dublin (UCD) and Mater Misericordiae University Hospital. She served two terms as President of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and was the first woman to be appointed as Dean of the School of Medicine at University College Cork (UCC). She has been a ministerial appointment to a number of health service-related National Boards including Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) and Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS). During the pandemic, as well as working on the frontline, she was appointed of Chair of the Ireland’s first National Research Ethics Committee, was a member of the National Public Health Emergency Team and the COVID Advisory Group, was Chair of the Expert Group on Rapid Testing, and Chair of the Expert Steering Group on Emerging Health Threats Preparedness.
Niamh Hodnett
Niamh is the Online Safety Commissioner at Coimisiún na Meán. She oversees the organisation’s Policy Division and the development of the Online Safety Code is one of her main priorities. Niamh has extensive experience in designing, enforcing and managing compliance with regulatory obligations at both an Irish and EU level. Her expertise spans online safety, data protection, cybersecurity, competition, consumer protection and communications regulation. A qualified solicitor, Niamh has previously worked at ComReg, Ireland’s communications regulator, at law firms in both Ireland and Brussels, and in a variety of in-house legal and regulatory roles. She has co-authored books on European law and Irish regulatory law.
Dr Brian Mac Namee
Dr Brian Mac Namee joined the School of Computer Science at UCD where he is an associate professor in 2015, and in 2024 became UCD Site Director at the Insight Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Data Analytics. Before joining UCD Brian received a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from Trinity College Dublin in 2004, and after a period working in industry joined the Dublin Institute of Technology (now Technological University Dublin) School of Computing where he co-founded the Applied Intelligence Research Centre and was a founding co-principal investigator at the Enterprise Ireland CeADAR Technology Centre for applied data analytics research. Brian is also Co-Director of the SFI Centre for Research Training in Machine Learning, chair of the Artificial Intelligence Association of Ireland and director of training at Krisolis Ltd, an Irish data analytics training and consultancy company.
Professor Debbie Ging
Professor Debbie Ging is Professor of Digital Media and Gender in the School of Communications at Dublin City University and Director of the DCU Institute for Research on Genders and Sexualities. She teaches and researches on gender, sexuality and digital media, with a focus on digital hate, online anti-feminist men's rights politics, the incel subculture and radicalisation of boys and men into male supremacist ideologies. Debbie’s research also addresses youth experiences of gender-based and sexual abuse online and educational interventions to tackle this issue.
Alex Cooney
Alex co-founded Cybersafe Ireland, now known as CyberSafeKids, and is currently its CEO, helping to build the organisation to a level where it is providing its services to thousands of children each year. Both personally as a parent, and professionally in her role at CyberSafeKids, she is extremely passionate about ensuring that children and young people are equipped to be online in a safe and smart way. Alex completed a QQI Level 6 component certificate in Child Psychology in 2019, a Professional Certificate in Digital Policy at UCD in 2022 and holds a Master’s Degree in Peace Studies from Trinity College Dublin, in addition to a MA from the University of Edinburgh.
Professor Philip Dodd
Professor Philip Dodd is Mental Health Policy and Clinical Specialist at the Department of Health, supporting the implementation of Sharing the Vision, Ireland’s mental health policy and Connecting for Life, Ireland’s suicide and self-harm reduction strategy. He is also National Clinical Advisor with the HSE National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP). He has previously held a number of national clinical leadership roles with the HSE in mental health. He is a Consultant Psychiatrist, and Clinical Professor at the University of Dublin, Trinity College.
Eoghan Cleary
Eoghan Cleary is an assistant principal, teacher and coordinator of SPHE and curricular wellbeing at Temple Carraig Secondary School in Greystones. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and is the co-author of multiple textbooks for the new Junior Cycle SPHE course. Before becoming a secondary school teacher, Eoghan worked extensively as a youth worker in some of the most marginalised communities of the country. Among his various qualifications, he has master’s degrees in both Education and International Human Rights Law with a focus on Children's Rights.
Noeline Blackwell
Noeline Blackwell is a human rights lawyer who joined the Children's Rights Alliance in November 2023 as Online Safety Co-ordinator. Prior to that, Noeline was CEO of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre for almost 8 years and was previously Director of FLAC, the Free Legal Advice Centres. Noeline also spent a number of years in general practice, with a particular focus in immigration, refugee and family law. She has been a member of a number of statutory and NGO boards. She currently chairs the Independent Patient Safety Council and the Child Law Project. She was appointed as a member of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission in 2023.
Rachel Harper
Rachel is an experienced educational leader and school principal. She is a member of Oide’s leadership panel, mentoring newly appointed principals. She is the founder and campaign leader of "It Takes A Village," a community-wide wellbeing initiative for children, families, and teachers in the Greystones/Delgany area. This initiative arose from growing concerns about rising anxiety levels among primary school-aged children, with a mission to support and empower these children, their parents, guardians, and teachers, by promoting wellbeing and digital awareness skills. It led to the rollout of a ‘Voluntary No Mobile Device Code’ among all eight primary schools in the area. Rachel serves on the HSE Therapeutic Wellbeing Pilot project steering group, which aims to provide a range of creative therapeutic support in primary school settings—one of the key goals of It Takes a Village.
Professor Pete Lunn
Pete Lunn is the founder and head of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) Behavioural Research Unit (BRU). A behavioural economist, he holds degrees in Philosophy & Psychology, Neuroscience and Economics. Pete’s research has been published in international journals in public health, economics, psychology, finance, environmental science, and consumer research. As a former BBC journalist, he believes strongly in communicating science beyond expert communities and is a regular contributor to Irish and international television, radio, newspapers, and podcasts. Pete is also a member of a European Commission expert group for a Fair and Sustainable Economy. Pete is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Economics at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). He teaches behavioural economics at both TCD and UCD.
Dr Abigail Collins
Abbey is a Consultant in Public Health Medicine and the National Clinical Lead for Child Health Public Health within the HSE. As part of this role, she leads on the HSE’s universal programme for children, the National Healthy Childhood Programme, with supporting information supports available to parents on a wider variety of topics through the Health Service Executive (HSE) MyChild.ie webpages. Her background prior to public health was in genetics and paediatrics. The health, wellbeing, prevention, early identification and clinical care for children have always been her primary interest and focus throughout her career.
Two representatives of the National Youth Assembly of Ireland
Additional members with specific expertise may be added to the Taskforce at the discretion of the Chair.
The Terms of Reference for the Taskforce will be finalised and agreed after the Taskforce meets in September. The draft Terms of Reference are below.
Taskforce Draft Terms of Reference:
1. Detail the range of social, mental health, physical health and sexual health harms being caused to young people by certain types of online behaviours and content. Inputs can include (but do not need to be limited to):
a. International and national literature review, including work being successfully done in other countries;
b. Expert input (for example: clinicians, researchers, educators);
c. Testimony from young people, parents, health and social care workers, community workers and others as appropriate;
d. This phase should not include lengthy primary research, but rather be a compilation of existing research, expert input and testimony from different stakeholders.
2. Ensure a comprehensive approach in identifying these harms, including:
a. Social (for example: bullying, effects on social interaction);
b. Physical (for example: physical activity, sleep deprivation);
c. Mental and emotional (for example: self-harm, suicide ideation, eating disorders, attention, self-regulation, digital addiction, self-concept);
d. Sexual (for example: sexual violence, sexual development, exposure of children to pornography and sexually explicit content);
e. Societal (for example: violence against women, male supremacy, racism, extremism).
3. Detail the range of sources of these harms. For example;
a. Devices (regardless of apps / content): Smart phones, tablets, laptops;
b. Online content: for example: Promotion of self-harm / suicide / eating disorders; Pornography; Age-inappropriate suggestions, AI-generated content (for example, on YouTube Kids); Male supremacy; Negative stereotyping based on protected characteristics (for example: gender, race/ethnicity, religion); Violence against women; Racism and xenophobia.
c. Social media: for example: Impact of algorithms; AI chat-bots; Design features (for example: Addictive features, digital nudges, social interaction design).
4. Provide a voice to those impacted, including young people and parents.
5. Identify gaps in protecting young people from potential harms. For example;
a. Level of awareness in relevant groups of harms being caused.
b. Availability of effective, affordable and easy-to-use technical tools available to parents / guardians including screen time and age-appropriate filters.
c. Level of responsiveness of social media and video sharing companies to harms being caused;
d. Level of accountability of social media and video sharing companies for the harms they are causing and/or facilitating;
e. Level of content filtering being offered to households in Ireland by internet service providers;
f. Existing educational supports and media literacy programmes for children/young adults to help protect their development, mental health and wellbeing.
g. Whether 13 is an appropriate age for children to have access to social media.
h. The inadequacy of existing age verification tools.
6. Recommend responses to address these harms, including, but not limited to:
a. National guidelines and guidance for relevant groups;
b. Further regulation / legislation;
c. International collaborations;
d. Awareness measures (for example: public campaigns, labelling);
e. Education (for young people, parents, educators, clinicians and others);
f. Technical solutions;
g. Additional health and social care supports;
h. Further research.