The mobile phone industry accepts it must help tackle the so-called ‘cyber-bullying’ associated with the technology, Minister for Children Barry Andrews said today.
Mr Andrews was speaking after a meeting with industry representatives in Dublin and said they had agreed to meet him on a quarterly basis to discuss progress.
The Minister noted some 55 per cent of of five- to nine-year-old children and about 90 per cent of 10-14 year olds had mobile phones.
“International research suggests one out of ten children has experienced cyber bullying; almost two out of ten say they have been perpetrators, and about three out of ten respond they have been bystanders of cyber bullying,” Mr Andrews said.
He said the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children had confirmed to hime that cyber bullying was a “much-stated reason for children’s initial contact with their Childline service”.
He said he had asked the industry to support the Childline service as way of offering advice and listening to children who have experienced the trauma of cyber bullying.
“As an interim measure, while we await a technical solution to the immediate concern, I believe this would enable the industry to demonstrate their commitment and resolve.”
The Minister said he also asked the mobile operators to start a pilot programme for an Irish product that seemed to offer a technical solution to the problem of cyber-bullying.
“There is a social responsibility on the industry to respond to this invasive form of bullying. While nobody would suggest that the mobile phone operators are in any way responsible for, or complicit in, this form of bullying, I do expect them to partner legislators in attempting to come up with a solution to the problem.”
Earlier this week, the Irish Cellular Industry Association made a presentation on this matter to the Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.
Representatives of O2, Vodafone, Meteor and 3 Ireland claimed at the Oireachtas communications committee that they were working hard to find a solution but also insisted that the issue was a wider problem across society.
Members of the committee claimed technology existed whereby sim cards could be modified to stop indecent images or videos being sent to handsets.
But the operators said such controls were only compatible with some brands of mobile phones and could not be universally applied across the board.
Additional reporting: PA