Mobile phone operators have been asked to put their “considerable resources” into tackling the abuse of children through so-called cyber-bullying.
Minister for Children Barry Andrews will meet industry representatives tomorrow to urge them to take steps to reduce the problem.
He said the latest data available to him suggested that 55 per cent of children between five and nine years old and about 90 per cent of 10-14 year-old children in Ireland now have a mobile phone.
“By EU standards, this is a very high level of penetration,” he said.
Mr Andrews said research by the children’s charity Barnardos indicated that 82 per cent of parents are concerned about cyber-bullying and that 39 per cent of children had experienced or witnessed such incidents.
“Mobile phones are a great comfort for children and parents in providing assurance about children’s whereabouts, but can easily be turned in to a powerful tool for bullying,” he said.
Earlier this week, the Irish Cellular Industry Association made a presentation on this matter to the Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources on the issue.
Mr Andrews said while some protective steps have been taken by operators on multimedia messaging and web-based telecommunications, there had been little progress on voice and text messages.
“Spokespersons from the sector addressing the Oireachtas committee on Wednesday made clear that the operators have not found a viable solution to combat voice and text bullying,” he said.
He urged the industry to work with the committee to ensure its “considerable resources” were employed to come up with concrete solutions to what he said could only be described as “psychological abuse”.
“Mobile telephony now enables bullies to target their victims in a very personal fashion at all hours of the day and night. I will be requesting operators to step forward to put in place robust protections that will reduce the likelihood of targeted bullying.”
Fine Gael justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan said today social networking sites such as Facebook and Youtube are increasing the chances of cyber bullying.
He said the issue was posing a real risk to children and causing angst and trauma in many families.
Mr Flanagan called on the Government to adopt international best practice to become more proactive in combating the problem.
The new Office of Internet Safety (OIS) in the Department of Justice currently monitors the self-regulation of service providers within the industry. It is due to publish an information guide on cyber bullying next month.
“The booklet is intended to increase awareness of all aspects of cyber bullying in the new media world,” said Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern.
Additional reporting: PA