The failure to agree European-wide online child protection laws is to the “collective shame” of political institutions, the Minister for Media has said. The Minister suggested the app, which has already been developed and will be tested early next year, could also set age limits for pornography websites. Over the course of a press conference on Tuesday, Mr O’Donovan described the slow pace of online child protection at EU level as “disappointing”, “tiresome” and a “failure”. He spoke as the Dáil heard a ban on social media for under-16s “amounts to putting a sticking plaster on a gaping wound”. Most social media companies already have an age limit of 13 which “just isn’t being enforced”, she said.

Source: The Irish Times December 10, 2025 18:03 UTC