SAFER INTERNET IRELAND PROJECT
Combating illegal, harmful and predatory use of the Internet requires responses at national, EU and international levels. Ireland is fully committed to playing its part, at home and internationally, to both detect and prevent child pornography.
Ireland's Child Trafficking and Pornography Act (1998) is acknowledged as one of the most robust pieces of legislation anywhere.
Safer Internet Action Plan
The European Union has taken a strong line on combating child pornography and other illegal and harmful uses of the internet. Since 1999, under the Safer Internet Action Plan, the EU has provided financial and other supports for measures in the member states to combat illegal and harmful uses of the internet, with particular emphasis on protecting children.
The Council of the European Union undertook its first initiative against illegal content on the Internet in July 1996, by adopting the action plan for combating racism and xenophobia. In 1997 the EU Telecoms Council adopted the resolution on illegal and harmful content on the Internet. In January 1999 the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted the Action Plan on promoting safe use of the Internet by combating illegal and harmful content on global networks. By force of this document the European Commission launched the first programme under
Safer Internet Action Plan (SIAP) – to promote safe use of the Internet and other new technologies, including the new generation of mobile phones, online games, chatrooms, and instant messaging software.
Safer Internet Ireland Project
The Safer Internet IE SIC (SII2) project is a consortium of industry, education, child welfare and government partners that acts as a Safer Internet Centre in Ireland providing awareness, hotline and helpline functions and activities in the Republic of Ireland. The project, coordinated by the OIS aims to develop national initiatives promoting the safer use of electronic media and enhance protection of the vulnerable, particularly children, against the downside of the Internet. This consortium builds on the experience gained from the previous highly successful but independently run
Safer Internet projects.
The key objectives of the project are;
- Create high profile, tightly coordinated, national safer internet actions that are sustainable in to the future as technologies and uses of new media develop.
- Develop materials and programmes of awareness to ensure that children, teachers and parents understand the benefits and risks of the Internet. These will also advise on the necessity and means to report should illegal or harmful content be encountered.
- Make available a professionally run counselling service where children affected by issues encountered on the Internet may turn for advice and guidance.
- Operate an Internet hotline service to the highest professional standards that is trusted by the public to allow anonymous confidential reporting of suspected illegal content or activities encountered on the Internet.
How the project is managed
The OIS acts as co-coordinator of the project, with overall responsibility for the financial & administrative aspects of the project.
The project partners are:
Picture taken at the launch of Webwise on Facebook and the publication of EU Kids Online Ireland Report 2011.
L/R: Simon Grehan (NCTE), Margie Roe (ISPCC), John Laffan (OIS),
Deirdre Sullivan (NPC), Paul Durrant (ISPAI)
Within the combined node, the awareness node, the Hotline and the Helpline retain their operational independence.
However all the partners in the consortium cooperate through the following:
- Use of a single advisory board comprised of key stakeholders, the newly created Internet Safety Advisory Council, which will play a key role in advising the OIS , and by extension the Minister and the Government on key internet safety issues.
- Regular exchange of information about our respective activities
- Working with a single financial/administrative co-ordinator, the OIS
For more information the E.U’s Safer Internet Program. Please visit
http://ec.europa.eu/saferinternet ^ Back to top