Timmy Dooley
Ceist:47. Deputy Timmy Dooley asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of the establishment of a digital safety commissioner. [42296/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 16 October 2019
Ceisteanna (47)
Freagraí scríofa
On 4 March 2019 I announced proposals for an Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill to tackle the spread of harmful online content and launched a public consultation to gather feedback on the proposals.
The public consultation closed on 15 April 2019. A wide a varied range of responses were received to the consultation, from members of the public, NGOs, industry and government agencies. These responses were published on 27 June 2019 and form a vital input into the development of the Bill. Furthermore, a thematic analysis of the submissions identifying key themes and issues was published on 25 July 2019.
This Bill will set a clear expectation for online platforms to take robust steps to ensure the safety of the users of their service and will provide for the appointment of an Online Safety Commissioner as part of the regulatory structure overseeing the new system. It will also provide for the implementation of the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive in Ireland, which sets out new EU rules for Video Sharing Platform Services.
My officials are currently pursuing an extensive programme of policy analysis to inform decision making around preparatory drafts of heads of the Bill. I intend to bring the draft heads to Government by end-2019.
While it would be impossible to protect people from every danger online, this Bill will ensure, for the first time, that robust regulation is in place and end the era of self-regulation by online platforms.