The Government has formally agreed to work actively with like-minded EU member states to explore options to introduce age restrictions on the use of social media, concentrating, in particular, on those under 16 years of age.
Ireland will now strongly advocate for a decision on the “digital age of majority” to be taken at EU level but will take action domestically if necessary.
Ministers have been discussing the Government’s new ‘Digital and AI Strategy’.
This plan will place a strong focus on online safety and it will look at restricting social media for under-16s through age verification.
However, there are warnings that this must be done with other EU states to avoid it being struck down by the courts.
It is understood that Ireland is aligned with France on this issue, with that country set to introduce legislation first while the age verification system is developed here.
This is just one of 90 measures in the new strategy which aims to make Ireland an international digital hub with strong regulatory safeguards.
There will be a focus too on ensuring there is adequate cyber security in place to protect public services.
The strategy will also emphasise the need to keep legislation under review to address certain AI technologies which act as tools to intimidate and harass.
The first step is a pilot run of an age verification tool which will see young people involved in a trial to assess how it will work in practice.
MORE:
https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2026/0218/1559033-social-media-restrictions/