{"id":1018389,"date":"2026-06-10T21:49:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T21:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1018389\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T21:49:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T21:49:22","slug":"online-safety-for-children-and-boosting-security-among-irelands-eu-presidency-priorities-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1018389\/","title":{"rendered":"Online safety for children and boosting security among Ireland\u2019s EU presidency priorities \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Republic would seek to improve online safety for children and boost Europe\u2019s economic competitiveness and security, all of which are among its priorities for the presidency of the Council of the European Union<\/a>. <\/p>\n

As the Government on Wednesday unveiled its policy programme for the six-month-long presidency starting in July<\/a>, Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin said the State would \u201cwork with others to make sure that Europe\u2019s children are safe online\u201d.<\/p>\n

In recent months, the Government has proposed a ban on social media use for under-16s while also suggesting there should be a restriction at EU level.<\/p>\n

Asked what the public could expect in this area by the end of the presidency, Martin replied: \u201cfar greater protection for children online\u201d, adding that \u201cage verification will be a key factor of that\u201d. <\/p>\n

He said the six-month presidency <\/a>would be a \u201cchallenging timeline\u201d for bringing in a social media ban for under-16s, but \u201ccertainly we hope to advance it\u201d. <\/p>\n

Martin also pushed back against the suggestion that there is tension between the European headquarters for many of the world\u2019s largest technology companies being located in the State and EU efforts to regulate them. <\/p>\n

\"\"Is meaningful climate action possible in a democracy?<\/p>\n

He said tech companies argue that there is too much regulation, but added that \u201con the other hand, though, they\u2019ve been pretty successful in Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n

Martin said <\/a>he agrees with some in the tech sector that \u201cwe do need to pivot more to innovation in Europe\u201d, citing the area of artificial intelligence, where \u201cthe US and China are well ahead of Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, he also said he has never accepted the argument about tension over the State hosting tech companies \u201cbecause our Data Protection Commission \u2026 has been very effective.\u201d <\/p>\n

Some 270 meetings involving foreign officials and politicians will be held during the presidency, including many outside Dublin, with Martin putting the costs at between \u20ac165 million and \u20ac185 million, excluding security costs.<\/p>\n

The Irish Times previously reported that \u20ac125 million has been allocated to An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na alone, so the overall costs are set to be about \u20ac300 million. <\/p>\n

Martin said Irish authorities would work with other countries on security \u201cas we do all on a habitual and on a regular basis\u201d, citing the State\u2019s intelligence services working with others \u201cin terms of identifying potential risks [and] sharing knowledge\u201d.<\/p>\n

During the launch, Martin said at a time of increased threat <\/a>and conflict, \u201cwe need to work harder to protect our citizens, our democracies, and our European way of life\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Taoiseach said the Republic would \u201ccontinue to offer unwavering support to Ukraine\u201d and would support countries that have applied to join the EU.<\/p>\n

Martin suggested that one of those countries, Montenegro, could be \u201cvery close to the end line [for joining] by the end of the year\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said the State would \u201cseek to secure a solid basis for the future work of the union through the negotiation of the European Union\u2019s next long-term budget\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Republic would seek to improve online safety for children and boost Europe\u2019s economic competitiveness and security, all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1018390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,1699,21383,681],"class_list":["post-1018389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eu","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-european-union","tag-fianna-fail","tag-micheal-martin"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116728022224507418","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1018389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1018390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1018389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1018389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1018389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}