BIG READ: How a Tipperary TD is tackling the battle for social media safety

As Governments around the world grapple with how to protect young people online, Ireland finds itself at the centre of an increasingly urgent debate. From smartphone bans in schools to Australia’s controversial proposal to bar under-16s from social media entirely, the question of how best to regulate the digital lives of children and teenagers has never been more pressing.

For Nenagh-based TD Ryan O’Meara, social media safety is a subject he describes as deeply personal and deeply urgent, shaped by months of research, engagement with parents, and direct conversations with young people themselves.

In recent weeks, he has brought that work into the national spotlight, both through a speech in Dáil Éireann and through ongoing interviews and public discussion, warning that simplistic solutions risk missing the real dangers facing children online
O’Meara’s focus on the issue comes at a time when international developments have intensified scrutiny on social media companies. Australia’s move towards a blanket under-16 ban has sparked headlines and controversy, with images of teenage influencers posting “goodbye” videos and reports of young users finding technological workarounds almost as soon as the proposals were announced.

While acknowledging that the issue is “very topical”, O’Meara remains sceptical that a ban alone can deliver meaningful protection. “There’s no silver bullet for this,” he says.

“Young people will find workarounds, VPNs exist, new platforms will always emerge. The question is whether a ban actually makes children safer, or whether it simply pushes the problem into darker, less regulated corners of the internet”
Ireland, he argues, has a particular responsibility in this debate. As the European headquarters for many of the world’s largest tech companies, the State cannot afford to look the other way when it comes to regulation, even if those companies are significant contributors to employment and tax revenue.

One of the most visible policy interventions to date has been the restriction on smartphone use in schools.

READ NEXT: Council delegation to meet with Fianna Fáil ministers in Leinster House

Introduced initially at primary level and extended to secondary schools through funding supports, the policy aims to reduce in-school phone use rather than impose a rigid, one-size-fits-all solution.

O’Meara views this approach as broadly successful, particularly because it allows schools flexibility in how they implement restrictions. From phone pouches to lock boxes, schools have been encouraged to find solutions that work for their own communities. “It wasn’t about telling schools exactly what to do,” he explains. “It was about reducing access during the school day, while recognising there are exceptional circumstances where phones are needed.”

However, he is clear that limiting phone use in school is only one piece of a much larger puzzle.

Research from New Zealand, where similar bans exist, suggests that school restrictions alone do not reduce overall screen time, as usage simply shifts to evenings and bedrooms. “That’s where the real risk is,” he says. “Unsupervised use, late at night, when parents often don’t know what’s happening online.”

Central to O’Meara’s work has been a nationwide survey of parents on “parenting in the digital age”, which received over 1,000 responses. One finding, in particular, continues to alarm him: fewer than 10% of parents said they felt very confident in understanding the online world their children are navigating.

“That is a failure of policy,” he says plainly. “Technology is moving so fast that parents cannot reasonably be expected to keep up without support. Yet we’re handing children smartphones, tablets and gaming platforms while parents feel largely in the dark.”

Beyond the statistics, the written responses painted a picture of parents calling for stronger regulation, clearer guidance, and practical education. Many supported the smartphone ban in schools, but also stressed the need for help in understanding platforms like Discord, Roblox and online gaming chats, spaces that are often assumed to be child-friendly but can carry serious risks.

O’Meara is careful not to lecture parents. “I’m very conscious not to preach,” he says. “Parents know better than anyone how difficult these decisions are. But we do need to empower them with information about attention spans, dopamine addiction, and the impact of constant scrolling on developing brains.”

Perhaps the most striking element of O’Meara’s campaign has been his insistence on including young people’s voices. Workshops held with youth groups in Leinster House revealed experiences that many adults, including policymakers, rarely hear about directly.

Some teenagers spoke openly about abandoning platforms due to safety concerns. One described leaving Roblox because of predator issues and how those cases were handled. Another warned that “Discord is full of predators and shady people”, highlighting private messaging, image sharing and attempts to move users off-platform. Others spoke about threats and violence encountered through popular online games.

What stood out to O’Meara was not just the severity of these experiences, but the maturity with which young people discussed them. “They’re not naive,” he says. “Many are already self-regulating, moving away from platforms they feel are unsafe. But regulation is failing them. An under-16 ban wouldn’t even touch some of the platforms they’re talking about.”
Crucially, young people did not simply reject regulation. Instead, many called for education and engagement. They asked policymakers to keep speaking directly to young users, to understand what really happens online, and to take action against companies that fail to protect them.

Beyond predators and bullying, O’Meara identifies algorithms as one of the most dangerous and least understood elements of social media. In his Dáil speech, he warned that algorithm-driven content can be “lethal”, particularly for young men exposed to radical ideologies and young women subjected to relentless pressure around body image and appearance
He speaks from personal experience. After re-downloading a social media platform he had not used in years, he found his feed quickly dominated by right-wing American political content, despite following mostly centrist accounts. “I wasn’t engaging with it, liking it or sharing it,” he says. “Yet it kept being pushed at me. That’s the power of algorithms and for someone younger, without political literacy, that influence could be profound.”

This, he argues, is why banning young people outright could be counterproductive. “If you ban under-16s completely, you effectively give companies a free pass. They can say, ‘They’re not supposed to be here anyway,’ and avoid responsibility for making platforms safer.”

As an alternative to blanket bans, O’Meara has expressed strong interest in proposals for a digital wallet or centralised age verification system.

Under such a model, age would be verified once, potentially at app store level, rather than separately across every platform.
“I think the technology is already there,” he says, pointing to existing identity verification systems used by platforms like LinkedIn.

Properly regulated and overseen by bodies such as Coimisiún na Meán and the Data Protection Commission, he believes such a system could strike a better balance between protection and access.
“A digital wallet could allow young people to access the positive, educational sides of technology, while putting real safeguards in place,” he argues.

“It’s not about surveillance or social scoring. It’s about age-appropriate access and accountability.”

Ultimately, O’Meara returns again and again to education, for parents, for young people, and for policymakers themselves. He describes attending community talks where parents were visibly shocked by what they learned about online platforms their children were using daily. He believes such initiatives should be rolled out nationally.

“Parents are telling us they want to learn more,” he says. “Young people are telling us they want to be taught how to use the internet safely. If both sides are asking for education, that has to be central to any solution.”

READ NEXT: Huge crowds gather in Nenagh for top class Christmas Tractors display

As Ireland watches Australia experiment with sweeping bans, O’Meara remains cautious. “A ban might look good politically,” he says. “But if it doesn’t solve the problem, or worse, creates new ones, then we’ve failed. This is about protecting lives, mental health and wellbeing, and that deserves more than a headline solution.”

In a debate often dominated by extremes, his message is clear: meaningful protection will come not from simple prohibitions, but from regulation, accountability, and a willingness to listen, especially to the young people most affected.