Best way to protect children ‘is to empower them’

The most effective way parents can protect children against predators online is to have an “honest and open relationship”, child safety experts have said.

Mary Flaherty, chief executive of the Children At Risk in Ireland (Cari) foundation, said the case of Conor O'Keefe underlined how difficult children's interactions online were to "police".

“Children and young people should be told to treat the information highway as they would the real highway. Be as careful in the online space as they would in a real open space,” she said. “The best method of protecting children is to empower them.”

With teenagers, she said, parents could use events such as the O’Keefe case to raise online safety. “The best line of defence is an honest and open line of communication, so young people feel they can discuss what’s going on online for them, what they’re doing, whom they’re talking to.” Controls could be put in place to block younger children’s access to certain sites, but these were unlikely to be effective for teenagers.

Clíona Saidléar, director of the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland, said young people needed to be “online smart” in the way they needed to be “street smart”.

“It’s about giving them responsibility, progressively, in their access to online world. Younger children need clear boundaries – time limits, the rooms they are allowed to be online in at home, telling their parents what they’re doing online. As they become older they need more freedom, but also to know how to stay safe,” she said.