From Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
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Go raibh maith agaibh go léir as a bheith linn inniu don chur i láthair seo ar ‘Thuarascáil an tSuirbhé Náisiúnta ar Leanaí, ar a dTuismitheoirí, agus ar Dhaoine Fásta maidir le Sábháilteacht ar Líne’.
Firstly, I would like to give a special word of thanks to my Deputy Chair of the National Advisory Council for Online Safety (NACOS), Professor Brian O’Neill.
Brian and his colleagues in TUD, together with the members of the NACOS research subgroup, transformed the dataset into the clear, engaging, and comprehensive report.
Finally, I would like to thank the members of NACOS for not only recommending that a report of this kind be undertaken, but also for their input also into the Online Safety and Media Regulation (OSMR) Bill, and for their valued insights into the ever changing area of online safety.
Despite progress being significantly delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which had a particular impact on the collection of data by IPSOS MRBI, I am pleased to say that we have a powerful piece of research which will certainly inform further analysis, and drive further research to inform and support current and future policy.
This report provides a robust baseline on how Children, their Parents/Carers, and Adults use the internet in Ireland today. It gives us a great sense of their experience of the online environment, the risks it presents and the safety measures they undertake to protect themselves and those in their care.
This research was commissioned back in 2019 following a recommendation by NACOS the gap in research and evidence about the state of online safety in Ireland be addressed.
The research was done in three strands. The first of these was a survey of children, the second was a survey of their parents or carers, and the third was a separate survey of adults.
Both interviews and questionnaires for children and their parents/carers were extensive, and detailed, while the Adults’ was concise but the first of its kind in this context. Overall, the dataset gives a contextual framework for overall access, usage, participation, practices, digital literacy, exposure, behaviour, and risks in the online environment, both positive and negative.
This report highlights the ubiquitous nature of the internet, that it is an integral part of our daily lives and the need for online safety policies to reflect this reality.
While the fact that the internet is a key part of our lives and the lives of our children has been increasingly apparent, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought sharp focus to this reality. From working from home to schooling from home, the internet has enabled us to weather this pandemic in ways which have surprised us all.
It has enabled us to maintain the shape of our society, our families and our friendships through instant communication, collaboration and innovative solutions in the face of a once in a century crisis.
However, while the internet has had a broadly positive impact on our society, there are, of course, risks, particularly to children. Some of these risks are online extensions of existing offline phenomena, such as bullying. Others represent almost entirely new challenges of our digital age, such as image based abuse.
What this report shines a light on is how the people of Ireland use the internet, the risks they face, and how they respond to those risks.
In this regard, there are some key themes that I would like to highlight today, both in respect of children and their parents as well as other adults.
There are significant differences across the various age categories in terms of the engagement of the various age groups with technology, the risks they encounter, the prevalence of those risks, and their resilience in the face of those risks. For example, children aged 13-14 report experiencing being bullied offline and online to a greater degree than other age groups.
There are also various differences between the experiences of male and female children, regarding their engagement with the online environment, and the prevalence of certain risks. For example, girls report a greater involvement from their Parents/Carers in terms of conversations about online safety, the use of the internet, and resilience building.
One of the more striking findings in the report is the relationship between children and their parents, and the perception parents having regarding their children’s interaction with the online environment, their experiences, and the extent of parental mediation. This is seen through the parents’ or carers’ belief that their children tell them about things on the internet that bother them to a far greater degree than what children themselves think they do. For example, 53% of parents or carers report that they help their child when something bothers them on the Internet. This contrasts with 19% of children who report that they have told their parent or carer about things that have upset them online.
In relation to the Adults report and online safety, the prevalent theme here is that most adults feel they have the necessary skills and tools in understanding, dealing, and combatting challenges that they may encounter online. There is a positive correlation between the encountering of problems online, and the raising of adults’ awareness of issues online.
And finally, when the dataset is examined overall, the frequency and complexity of the interactions in the online environment increase with age as children mature and transition into adulthood. These same interactions then begin to taper off and distinctly decline in older adults, perhaps reflecting an age divide in digital literacy.
We can now see that the internet is not some unknown new frontier but is instead an integral part of our daily lives, and our society. As such, our online safety ideas, methods, and policies need to reflect this reality.
However, when it comes to children there are particular risks that need to be managed. There are also significant differences between the age-categories of children regarding certain online risks, such as bullying, and these differences need to be accounted for in order to ensure a safe and trusted online environment.
Finally the report itself- provides a valuable benchmark for potential future research, and points to the important role that the new Media Commission and Online Safety Commissioner will play as we move forward.
This report underlines the need to progress the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill as a matter of urgency.
At the moment, I am closely examining the 33 recommendations of the Joint Oireachtas Committee in their pre-legislative scrutiny report of the General Scheme of the Bill.
As soon as I have given due consideration as these recommendations, I will publish the Bill and introduce it into the Oireachtas for enactment.
I will now pass to Professor Brian O’Neill, who will present on the details of the research Report.
Go raibh maith agaibh.