Martin Brady
Ceist:174 Mr. M. Brady asked the Minister for Education and Science the measures, if any, taken to protect primary school children from the high incident rate of child pornography on the Internet. [5451/99]
Written Answers. - Child Pornography.
Martin Brady
Ceist:189 Mr. M. Brady asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the recent media reports in respect of child pornography on the Internet; if his attention has further been drawn to the granting of e-mail addresses to primary school children by certain schools; and the measures, if any, planned to monitor the Internet in schools to protect primary school children from this material. [5452/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 174 and 189 together.
I am aware of the recent media reports, and of the issue of e-mail addresses, to which the Deputy is referring. The National Centre for Technology in Education, NCTE, which I established last year to implement the Schools IT 2000 Programme, supplied all schools with guidelines on the safe use of the Internet in August 1998. These guidelines outline the possible dangers inherent in Internet use, including the use of e-mail by primary school children, and the steps which can be taken to alleviate these dangers. The guidelines are available on the Internet at http://www.ncte.ie/safety.
The NCTE is presently compiling a further set of guidelines which will assist primary schools in devising a policy on acceptable use of the Internet, including Internet e-mail. These guidelines are being prepared in consultation with the teacher unions and parent bodies and will be circulated to all primary schools shortly. Ultimately, each school will devise and implement its own Internet safety policy in collaboration with management, teachers and parents.
Every primary school received Internet filtering software with the computer supplied to them by Telecom Éireann under the Schools IT 2000 Programme. This allows schools to block access from that computer to web sites containing inappropriate material. The options for centralising filtering of Internet material being accessed from school computer networks are currently being investigated by the NCTE and a pilot study involving four schools will commence shortly.
In addition, in co-operation with RTE and BOCOM International, my Department has conducted a pilot study which involved broadcasting Internet material to schools using a television signal, thereby allowing schools to use predetermined Internet content without having to access the Internet. The results of this study are currently being evaluated.