Mayo deputy calls for coordinated action on online child safety
MEP Nina Carberry and TD Keira Keogh met in Brussels this week to discuss coordinated EU and Irish efforts to make the online world safer for children.
Mayo TD Keira Keogh and MEP Nina Carberry have welcomed the Irish Government’s decision to pilot an age verification digital wallet, a step both politicians have consistently called for at national and EU level.
Deputy Keogh, speaking from Brussels emphasised that the findings from the recent Fine Gael Online Safety Survey could not be clearer:
“Ninety-three percent of parents don’t trust social media companies to act in their children’s best interests. There is strong support for age limits and robust age verification checks.”
MEP Carberry, whose proposal for an EU-wide age-verification system recently won overwhelming support in the European Parliament, said that the Irish plans closely mirror ambitions to harmonise online safety rules across the EU.
“As Ireland takes on the EU Council Presidency in 2026, this will also provide us with an opportunity to lead an EU-wide push for age verification, to prevent children from accessing harmful content on social media and pornography.”
Both Mayo representatives said that this is clearly what parents, schools and community groups have been calling for.
“We know what the solutions are to protect our children online, this pilot shows that we are responding”, they concluded.
