The movement scooped up a prestigious Lilly Award in 2016 for its grassroots digital campaign, which was described by Julia Jordan of The Lilly Awards as a “visceral explosion”.

Waking the Feminists: A movement driven by social media

The movement, spearheaded by Inspirefest 2016 speaker Lian Bell, was born after the unveiling of the 1916 centenary programme at the Abbey Theatre, featuring nine out of 10 plays written by men. This glaring disparity galvanised what became a major sea change in the theatre landscape.

Today (9 July), the voices of the thousands of supporters online will be vindicated by the Government, as Minister for Culture Josepha Madigan, TD, is set to launch a gender equality strategy for Irish theatre.

Theatre companies to implement new rules

The Abbey, Gate and Druid theatres, as well as Rough Magic, the Everyman Palace and Fishamble, have signed up to the new policy. In some cases, gender-blind readings and casting will apply, with women taking up roles traditionally played by male actors.

Unconscious-bias training for all theatre staff and a commitment to achieving gender-balanced programming within five years are also on the cards under the new strategy. Dignity-at-work clauses will be added to employee charters and ensuring gender parity in collaboration with third-level institutions is also an element of the agreement.

A step in the right direction

Bell described the policies as “a really significant step in embedding gender equality as an ethos into all of those organisations”, noting that these steps are only the first on the larger journey towards true equality and equity in the theatre world.

Exterior of the Gate Theatre, Dublin. Image: William Murphy/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The post ‘Waking the Feminists’ social media campaign sees theatres commit to change appeared first on Silicon Republic.

This brought back a rush of memories of a Christmas when my dad, on his own volition, insisted on the family investing in our first computer, the Sinclair Spectrum 48K, which used tapes as a means of relaying data. I can’t look at one of those machines without feeling a wave of nostalgia.

His motive was to ensure that his children were positioned to take advantage of the next upheaval or revolution in technology, and my early childhood and teens were a grounding in the basics of computing and coding, with a lot of syntax errors and swear words thrown in. His investment paid off because the digital revolution has informed the entirety of my adult career so far.

I always considered myself lucky to be around to witness the start of new things – the first personal computers, modems, internet connections and mobile phones; the onset of text messaging and e-commerce; the first smartphones; social media; VR, AR and the internet of things; drones and self-driving cars – it goes on and on. And I relish and love every damn second and fresh new insight.

But this digital revolution hasn’t always been about shiny boxes and lights.

For all the shiny chrome iPhone reveals, and new ways of connecting around our planet, there has been shock and sorrow, too.

I marvel at humanity’s ability to add ugliness and harm to things that should be progressive.

Sadly, the internet and smartphones have brought with them the spectre of horrible things, ranging from child abuse material to bullying, suicide and God knows what else.

There is hardly a crime you read or hear about today that doesn’t involve some element of technology, whether it is a part of the story or the means by which the story was captured.

In some ways, this hurries the advance of technology into our lives, either welcome or intrusive; in others, it limits possibilities for the more progressive potential of technology.

The most recent intrusion – the Cambridge Analytica data scandal that has engulfed Facebook and may have played a role in the Brexit referendum and the election of US president Donald Trump – is a case in point.

Instead of growing up gracefully with technology as we should, we are being violently shook into the dark realities of a digital age.

Innocence in the age of consent

But what is the appropriate way to grow up in a digital age? How young should children be before they can access smartphones? How involved should their parents be? How much do kids tell their parents about what is happening in their digital lives?

Hardly a week goes by that you don’t hear about bullying over smartphones and on social networks. Sadly, you also often hear about suicides, and there are few parents I know who don’t despair when they see the blue glow from the bedroom where their child should be asleep.

Often on radio shows, I am asked what is the right approach. I often reply that it is important that parents create an atmosphere where kids feel it is OK to say what is going on.

Increasingly, I think these words ring hollow because I am not yet a parent and I do know that kids will not tell their parents everything. But I am an uncle to three beautiful nieces, two of whom are teenagers, all in a hurry to grow up but also get their hands on the latest technologies.

I worry for them. My introduction to technology was gradual. Theirs is a full-on, in-your-face battery of phones, apps and disappearing social media posts and Snap messages, and I hope they are OK and not on the receiving end of bullying or worse.

Every week, it seems a radio show reveals how a reporter masquerading as a 13-year-old girl is shocked by the attention and advances by grown men on these online platforms.

Ireland is currently in the midst of a debate around the age of consent for the access to services by young people without parental consent.

The Irish Government’s Cabinet has agreed that the digital age of consent for access to services without parental approval should be set at 13. The decision is part of the planned legislation for harmonising Irish law with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into force on 25 May.

There are arguments that this age of consent is too young.

In recent weeks, the director of the Cyberpsychology Research Network, Dr Mary Aiken, warned that the age of 13 for digital consent selected by the Irish Government is too low and leaves youngsters open to malicious and manipulative psychological targeting.

Successful entrepreneur Dylan Collins, CEO of child-safe digital ads network SuperAwesome, backed Aiken’s warning. Collins believes the Government needs to reconsider setting the digital age of consent as low as 13 when Germany is setting the age limit at 16, France at 15 and China, where the digital age of consent is a new concept, is opting for 14.

In response to questions from Siliconrepublic.com, Collins said: “The challenge is that the internet was fundamentally built for adults but is now being used by an overwhelming number of kids. There are almost 10 times as many kids online as there were seven years ago.”

He added: “It’s really hard to be a parent within a digital home. Please be mindful that when your children are using adult platforms like Facebook and YouTube, huge amounts of their personal information may be getting captured and shared with other companies.”

In light of the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal, Collins has a point.

Just like with sex education, we cannot ignore digital education

The key is that kids need a balanced introduction to technology that equips them for the future and protects them online, without holding them back.

Some schools in Ireland have banned smartphones from the premises, but not tablet devices. So, how do we achieve balance?

Harry McCann of the Digital Youth Council argues that going the other direction and raising the digital age of consent to 16 years old will only sweep the problem under the carpet and leave young people at a greater risk online. He believes we must focus on developing the digital education and literacy of parents and their children rather than banning young people from going online.

In a recent story in The Irish Times, McCann opined that Ireland as a society has failed to educate children responsibly about technology.

“I’m only a year out of school and I can tell you this education was not provided to me. It’s not that young people don’t care about their privacy, they don’t understand the repercussions of what happens when you post a personal photo or information online.”

Balanced education, McCann professed, is the key.

“Irish society has a very unhealthy relationship with technology and it’s playing a big part in how people are unsafe online. I believe that by sweeping this problem under the carpet, we are failing to prepare young people on one of the greatest threats they face in 21st-century Ireland, which is the online world. If they go online unprepared, they’re in danger.”

Just like with sex education, Ireland can no longer avoid digital technology.

The issue isn’t solely about the age of consent. The issue is how we are preparing society – it begins with the students and their teachers – for the realities and dangers of an increasingly online world.

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

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Dylan Collins is the CEO of SuperAwesome, one of the biggest kidtech companies in the world, powering kid-safe digital engagement for hundreds of companies and millions of kids.

‘Why is Ireland picking the lowest age possible when it comes to the protection of children’s data online?’
^{– DYLAN COLLINS}

The company specifically focuses on privacy-based products for the audience of children in line with global data privacy laws for kids in the US, EU and China.

SuperAwesome was reportedly recently valued at more than $100m and derives global revenues of $50m through kid-safe advertising and social engagement with brands that include Activision, Hasbro, Mattel, Cartoon Network, Spin Master, Nintendo, Bandai, WB and Moose Toys, to name a few.

Collins, considered one of Europe’s most experienced digital media entrepreneurs and investors, sold Demonware, a company he co-founded, to Activision for $17m in 2007. He also co-founded venture capital company Hoxton Ventures.

Tipped for a potential stock exchange listing, SuperAwesome recently raised $21m in a funding round led by Mayfair Equity Partners.

Collins was last year named Internet Hero at the Eir Golden Spider Awards.

Debate rages over age of digital consent in Ireland

Internet supremo Dylan Collins. Image: Eir

In recent weeks, the director of the Cyberpsychology Research Network, Dr Mary Aiken, warned that the age of 13 for digital consent selected by the Irish Government is too low and leaves youngsters open to malicious and manipulative psychological targeting.

She pointed to research that indicated adolescents experienced greater unhappiness through their teenage years if they went online too young.

Collins believes the Irish Government needs to reconsider setting the digital age of consent as low as 13 when Germany is setting the age limit at 16, France at 15 and China, where the digital age of consent is a new concept, is opting for 14.

Do you personally believe Ireland is setting the age limit too low, and is the Government misguided in its approach?

The objective here is to ensure that data is not being captured on kids and young people. We have seen from the likes of the Cambridge Analytica scandal just how much this data can be, and is, misused.

GDPR-K (the kids part of GDPR) allows for each country to set an age between 13 and 16. Germany and Italy have picked 16. France has picked 15.

Why is Ireland picking the lowest age possible when it comes to the protection of children’s data online?

It’s a very simple analysis: as a parent, would you prefer to have more protection or less protection for your children when they go online?

Hardly a week goes by where we don’t hear about bad people targeting kids via social media apps, and everything from suicides to grooming. As someone who subscribes to safe marketing standards, how big is the problem we are facing?

The challenge is that the internet was fundamentally built for adults but is now being used by an overwhelming number of kids. There are almost 10 times as many kids online as there were seven years ago.

SuperAwesome has defined the ‘kidtech’ sector: technology that is specifically built to ensure that kids’ privacy is protected wherever they go online. It’s used by hundreds of the biggest kids companies in the world to ensure that kids have access to a ‘zero data’ environment. So, we are at the cutting edge of this conversation.

What do you believe needs to be done so kids can still have their childhoods and, if they want to use digital, can do so safely?

Firstly, it’s great to see governments and the EU taking the lead on data privacy law for kids. Even China, not commonly known for the concept of digital privacy, has passed laws specifically to protect kids online (interestingly, they also picked an older age than Ireland is suggesting).

Secondly, there are now hundreds of kids companies building products and services with dedicated kidtech, committing to data privacy for children everywhere. Many examples, but the likes of Mattel, Lego, Spin Master and Disney spring to mind. They deserve your support.

Finally, parents – it’s really hard to be a parent within a digital home. Please be mindful that when your children are using adult platforms like Facebook and YouTube, huge amounts of their personal information may be getting captured and shared with other companies.

The post Dylan Collins: Why is Ireland going for lowest age for digital consent? appeared first on Silicon Republic.

The broadcast came in the wake of a court case in Ireland where a man coerced nine-year-old girls to send sexually graphic images via social media apps including Instagram, Snapchat and Kik.

‘The phones are getting smarter, but are we?’

The broadcast and reportage around the court case sparked a public debate around the digital age of consent. An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was brought into the debate, reaffirming that 13 should be the age of digital consent.

The furore surrounding the case and The Late Late Show report felt as if Ireland had just been alerted to the prevalence of online predators and the cocktail of dangers that await young people using advanced technologies such as smartphones.

There were calls for a ban on smartphones being used by children of primary-school age and for more stringent age verification processes in place by the various app and social media companies.

The thing is, this is nothing new. We have been warning about these dangers for some time now. And yet, the whole country seemed to act like this was a new thing.

In 2011, we interviewed Pat McKenna of Childwatch.ie who at the time visited more than 20,000 second-level students, teachers and parents to educate them about how teenagers in Ireland were becoming more and more exposed to online porn as well as child abuse material.

Are smartphones the new candy?

Smartphones are something of a miracle technology, capable of doing a lot more than simply sharing pictures on Snapchat or Instagram. They are powerful computers and most users barely scratch the surface in terms of their capabilities, instead using them just to communicate or to game.

In the intervening years, smartphones have become more important than toys in many children’s eyes.

Smartphones have also found themselves at the centre of a litany of troubling issues for kids as well as adults, from bullying to suicide.

Saying that smartphones are bad or banning them is not the answer. Education and etiquette are only part of the answer. Unlike how sex education had been bungled in recent decades, we can’t bury our heads on the issue any longer.

The truth is, the genie is out of the bottle. While many parents rightly restrict their kids from owning smartphones until they reach a certain age, some are already familiar with tablet computers and their parents’ phones from an early age. In a lot of cases, kids are given iPod devices as a kind of stopgap before they own their own SIM and phone number, which is redundant when you think about the fact that an iPod is simply an iPhone without a SIM and is just as powerful in a Wi-Fi area.

Parents are asking themselves how to manage this topic responsibly. There are no clear answers except to create an environment where kids can communicate openly with parents about what’s happening in their lives, offline and online.

Part of society’s inability to handle the issue adroitly is also down to the fact that these kids are truly digital natives and have a relationship with technology that is unfathomable to most adults, even today’s vaunted millennials.

These kids are growing up with this technology and it will, for better or worse, inform their future lives, careers and relationships.

The need for a digital safety commissioner is urgent

Last year, the Irish Government agreed that the digital age of consent should be 13. The decision was part of the planned legislation for harmonising Irish law with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into force on 25 May this year.

The thing is that every nation, not just Ireland, has had to do a lot of growing up in recent years, thanks to digital. Adults, too, are undergoing an education in digital safety and etiquette.

When we were children, we were all taught the safe-cross code for crossing the street and the importance of not talking to strangers. As growing adults, we had to learn how to be street-smart and protect ourselves emotionally and physically in life. And now, digital adds a whole extra, complicated layer to everything.

It is hard to tell people to respect each other online or in these social media apps when the very president of the United States doesn’t even think before he tweets.

But education and understanding is a critical part of the solution. In the coming weeks, the Minister for Communications will be holding talks with various security, legal and education bodies about creating the very first digital safety commissioner role in Ireland.

The appointment is a reflection of – and partly accelerated by – the kind of abuse public figures such as politicians themselves are receiving over social media. But not only politicians, individuals of all standing in society have become anxious victims of online abuse, slurs and provocation. In cases such as revenge porn, for example, victims are often caught in a kind of purgatory waiting for action by police or social media players to remove the damaging content.

For the appointment of a digital safety commissioner to matter, we need to be able to get social media giants such as Facebook and Instagram to act speedily to remove abusive material.

Therefore, important legislative changes are required.

For example, it is a criminal offence in Ireland to harass a person by phone or text message, but not by social media.

It is understood that the new digital safety commissioner role will be modelled on similar positions that have been established in New Zealand and Australia. Like the Australian counterpart, the digital safety commissioner may also have an educational role, to focus on teaching young people about online behaviour and operate a complaints service for those who may experience bullying.

Are we smart enough for our smartphones?

And that’s just it. How do you treat people in your life? Would you talk to total strangers the same way in person and with the same familiarity that you would through the brave filter of Twitter or Facebook? Would you say the same things to their faces that you would through the safe distance of a mobile screen?

Society overall needs to learn how to behave in the digital world.

Society needs the smarts to handle smartphones correctly.

Banning or curtailing their use by younger age groups is not the complete answer. At best, it is a crude solution.

Smartphones are getting smarter. Just look at the latest iPhone X from Apple, which comes with in-built AI, as well as the Huawei Mate P10, which has its own neural processor.

These devices are more powerful and becoming even more powerful than we could ever have imagined.

The phones are getting smarter, but are we?

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The post Digital safety: Why society needs to get smarter about smartphones appeared first on Silicon Republic.

Much has been made recently about the growing issue of technology addiction among young people and teenagers, and the importance of education and healthy boundaries online is vital.

Events for Safer Internet Day are taking place today (6 February) across Ireland and around the world.

The initiative is held in more than 100 countries around the globe and the theme this year is: ‘Create, connect and share respect: A better internet starts with you.’

Some parents, guardians and teachers can find digital literacy a struggle even for themselves as individuals; therefore, talking to children and teenagers about their online lives seems like a mammoth task.

Here are just a few practical tips and strategies you can employ to create a better internet and open up channels of communication.

Online safety tips

Emphasise boundaries and responsibilities

Talk to young children about hypothetical situations they might find themselves in online, eg they see someone post a mean image of a classmate or see a picture that is heavily photoshopped. Encourage them to think critically about what they see and explain that there is always potential for manipulation online.

Making the internet safer is a group effort

Educating yourself about online privacy and safety is the key step to be able to pass on accurate information and comfortably discuss the topic with young people.

SaferInternetDay.ie has a whole host of activities for teachers to include in their classes, ensuring students are aware of the pitfalls of the internet as well as its many benefits.

The ‘granny rule’

This is a good rule of thumb for sharing photographs online. If you wouldn’t show the picture to your granny, parent or teacher, it probably means it shouldn’t be uploaded online.

Practise empathy

It can be difficult to remember that behind every online profile there is a real person, but, by emphasising empathy to young internet users, you can create a more accepting and less judgemental generation of people.

Take a step back

Many worries around the internet and young people stem from the amount of time spent looking at screens and the anxiety this can cause. Imposing rules around screen time restrictions from the very beginning is the best way to ensure a healthy attitude to online life.

Internet safety products such as iKydz can help impose rules on tech use at home. Evaluate the types of devices used with this guide from the UK Safer Internet Centre.

Research, research, research

With more people becoming aware and protective of their online privacy, parents and guardians should be examining the apps on their children’s devices to see just how much information they could pass on.

Many chat apps, such as Kik, can be used by strangers to talk to young people online, so it’s worth discussing and reading up on. Talking to other parents and teachers can help, too. WebWise has a series of great explainers detailing how popular apps work.

Examine what you share, and lead by example

Be wary of sharing images of your children or students in school uniforms, and examine how often you disclose your location online without giving it a second thought. Good privacy habits will be noticed and emulated.

The post Safer Internet Day 2018: Tips for parents and teachers appeared first on Silicon Republic.

The Irish Mobile Consumer survey – A Land of Saints, Scholars and Smartphones – analysed the habits of a broad cross-section of the country.

The influence of the smartphone on our daily lives shows no signs of abating, with 40pc of users looking at their devices within five minutes of waking up. During the night, 44pc of users check their phones, with this figure rising to 60pc among 18-24-year-olds. 30pc of those surveyed check their phones in the five-minute window before going to sleep.

In terms of how we are communicating, people use their phones most for text messaging (68pc). This is followed by voice calls (65pc), instant messaging (64pc), email (63pc) and social networks (59pc).

Are we using our smartphones too much?

For the first time, the survey has captured participants’ self-awareness when it comes to their phone usage, with half of respondents admitting they think they use their phone too much. Irish users check their phones 57 times a day on average, a great deal higher than the European average of 41. A sixth of respondents (16pc) said they were checking their phones 100 times daily.

Richard Howard, partner and head of technology, media and telecommunications at Deloitte, commented: “Mobile devices are a relatively new ‘addiction’ to our social fabric, and they form an important part of our daily activities and interactions.

“Social norms will develop over time, and it will be interesting to see if the fear of being without one’s phone – nomophobia – starts to become more widely recognised. We expect to see phone manufacturers continue to put more usage controls into devices to prevent dangerous usage.”

A dip in interest in early adoption

44pc of Irish people expect to trade in their phones in the coming year, compared to a European average of 38pc.

It looks as though the shine has worn off new gadgets and upgrades somewhat though, with 36pc of people only willing to replace their device if it is defective. In general, the findings are pointing to a reduced rate of early adoption across all mobile devices, including VR headsets and smartwatches.

Howard said: “It appears that that recent innovations, such as biometrics and virtual reality, are not convincing consumers to upgrade their devices. This trend is consistent with global usage patterns – Deloitte predicts that global spend on consumer hardware will continue to decrease over the coming two years, picking up again from 2020.”

Average ownership of mobile devices in over-65s has increased from 48pc in 2016 to 54pc this year, which makes the ‘grey tech’ market likely to be a growth area for mobile companies.

It also seems that Irish people are enamoured with the internet of things (IoT). 83pc of respondents said they have access to at least one IoT device, the most prominent one being a smart TV, which 44pc of consumers now own.

“If the first 10 years has been about changing our social lives, the next 10 years will be about changing our working lives,” Howard added. “What’s clear, overall, is that we cannot underestimate how mobile devices have changed how we interact with others. Our survey shows that the right balance is still to found for many of us.”

The post Are Irish people becoming addicted to their smartphones? appeared first on Silicon Republic.

Apps such as Telegram, WeChat and Viber all have similar features, and WhatsApp has been testing such a feature for a number of months now. The new option will be called ‘Delete for everyone’ and will be functional in individual conversations as well as group chats. This new addition comes after WhatsApp’s existing policy of end-to-end encryption for conversations.

All successfully recalled messages will be replaced with a notice that says ‘This message was deleted’.

Not available for all WhatsApp users yet

Although the feature has been added to the official WhatsApp FAQ, it is not yet available to all users of the popular messaging service.

To check if your device has the feature enabled, go into any conversation and press down on a message that you wish to delete. A list of options will appear at the top of the window, including a rubbish bin. You then tap the bin and select the ‘Delete for everyone’ option.

The deleted messages will disappear from both the chat thread and the notification centre on the recipient’s phone, which will buy senders more time as the person receiving the message is less likely to check their phone without a prior notification.

Seven-minute grace period

Messages can only be recalled within a seven-minute window after sending them, and there is no way to alter this once it has gone beyond this timeframe.

In order for the messages to be successfully wiped on both ends, all users will have to have the latest version of WhatsApp installed and the ‘Delete for everyone’ feature enabled.

WhatsApp said that recipients could still possibly see your message before it is deleted or if deletion was unsuccessful, and you also won’t be notified if deleting for everyone didn’t work – so you may have to double-check the chat window to be sure the text has been purged.

WhatsApp chat window. Image: Alex Ruhl/Shutterstock

The post WhatsApp debuts feature that allows users to delete accidental messages appeared first on Silicon Republic.

Inspirefest’s place as a unique international festival of technology, science, design and the arts is well known and, for the first time, listeners can enjoy festival highlights and behind-the-scenes insights from many of the leading thinkers in sci-tech, media and inclusion.

What’s in store for Episode One?

O’Connell chats to digital publishing superstar Raju Narisetti, current CEO of Gizmodo Media Group, which is the company behind such iconic internet titles as Gizmodo, Jezebel, Lifehacker and Kotaku. O’Connell and Narisetti tackle the new challenges for digital media, with additional input from PhD candidate and noted TED speaker Sinéad Burke.

From left: Sinéad Burke and Ana Matronic at Inspirefest 2017. Image: Conor McCabe Photography

The series will span 11 episodes over the course of the coming weeks with a short break for the holiday season. From software developer and diversity advocate Tracy Chou and musician and robot obsessive Ana Matronic, to revolutionary founder of Backstage Capital Arlan Hamilton, the upcoming guests reflect the themes of creativity and inclusion sparked by the festival itself.

Your weekly dose of inspiration

The Digital Hub is the podcast’s main sponsor, with director Fiach Mac Conghail saying: “The Digital Hub are delighted to support this amazing podcast series, which has its roots in Silicon Republic, a company we’re proud to have based at The Digital Hub campus.

“Ann and the Inspirefest team brought to Dublin a stellar line-up of speakers, and I can’t wait to revisit some of what they shared at the event through this new podcast series.”

CEO and co-founder of Silicon Republic and founder of Inspirefest, Ann O’Dea, said she was “extremely excited” to launch the first series of Inspirefest: The Podcast.

She praised the podcast team for creating such a jam-packed series of episodes: “Shaun and Maurice [the Bureau production team] and Claire have done a wonderful job of pulling together the off-stage thoughts of some of the brightest minds in the STEM industries.”

O’Dea also thanked The Digital Hub for being the anchor sponsor for the series, saying: “Inspirefest was conceived and created out of our home here at The Digital Hub, so it’s a pretty apt partnership!”

Some short ad slots are still available within the debut series, and those interested in being a part of it can contact sponsor@inspirefest.com for further details.

The podcast has already raced up the iTunes Technology podcast charts, and you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts – from iTunes to Stitcher and everything in between.

Inspirefest: The Podcast is a must-listen for anyone who values creativity and innovation. Image: Inspirefest

Inspirefest is Silicon Republic’s international event connecting sci-tech professionals passionate about the future of STEM. Super Early Bird Tickets for Inspirefest 2018 are on sale now!

The post Inspirefest: The Podcast makes its debut with stellar first episode appeared first on Silicon Republic.

It recently surveyed more than 1,000 children, parents and teachers who attended its training sessions over the past 12 months, and is concerned that the results show a lack of guidance and support around online risks faced by vulnerable young people.

The vast majority of primary school teachers (69pc) don’t feel they are adequately equipped to teach online safety in the classroom, an increase of 5pc on 2016’s figures. For teachers, the primary concern is cyber-bullying, with 219 incidents occurring over the last year.

The report also noted that parents have the potential to have a larger role in keeping their children safe online, but 62pc of the 621 children surveyed – the vast majority of whom are under 13 – had rarely or never spoken to their parents about online safety measures.

Contact with strangers

22pc of children surveyed said they are in online contact with a stranger, with 14pc of them speaking to unknown people weekly through online gaming or accepting social media requests.

Cybercrime investigation specialist and programme director of CyberSafeIreland, Cliona Curley, explained that although many of the connections made are harmless, some cases can be concerning. “Access to technology can be enormously beneficial to children, but we also must recognise that children are developmentally vulnerable and that they need support and guidance, both to protect them and to empower them to use that access wisely.”

Alex Cooney, CEO of CyberSafeIreland, said “as a nation, we are failing in our duty to protect our children online”. He emphasised the need for more parental and educational resources in order to address these issues. He said children “need guidance, support and supervision to manage their experiences safely and responsibly, especially when they are young”.

Tips for parents

Do your research

Vet the apps that your child is using or wants to use. Examine the functionality yourself, paying close attention to chat facilities, privacy settings and the method of reporting abuse it has.

Set boundaries

Apply your rules from the beginning, and stick to them. Where can they use their devices? What behaviour is acceptable? It’s also advised for location tracking to be constantly turned off on your child’s devices.

Start talking

Probably the most important aspect is to start the conversation around online safety now. As soon as your child shows an interest in your devices, tell them what is OK and what isn’t in an age-appropriate manner.

The post Irish teachers and parents don’t feel equipped to discuss online safety appeared first on Silicon Republic.

The board maintains the national register of private residential tenancies as well as tenancies of approved housing bodies. It also provides avenues for tenants and landlords to resolve disputes and issues.

2016 – The busiest year on record for the RTB

The RTB reported that 2016 was its busiest year since its establishment in 2004, with more than 130,000 calls dealt with in its call centre – a 10pc increase from 2015 – as well as more than 50,000 email queries registered.

Tenants staying in rented accommodation for longer spells of time is a growing trend, with Ireland’s rental sector now comparable to many of its European counterparts. With this pattern emerges the urgent need to address the current rental market.

“This means we have to adjust and transition to a rental sector that is no longer geared towards renting as a temporary solution prior to home ownership, but a rental sector that can support short- and long-term renting,” read the report.

Considerable changes have been made since the 2015 report was issued, including the implementation of Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ) coverage and other rent certainty measures. These changes have played their part in the rapid increase of 160pc in dispute applications about rent reviews since they were introduced.

Dublin rents well above national average

Rental prices countrywide have shot up, with Dublin increasing by 37pc since 2012 to the monthly rate of €1382, while the national average rent increased by €70 to €954 per calendar month.

The largest number of disputes between tenants and landlords revolved around deposit retention, rent arrears, overholding and invalid notice of termination by landlords.

Rosalind Carroll, director of the RTB, said: “2016 saw the introduction of Rent Pressure Zone areas, which now cover 55pc of all tenancies. In these areas, rents cannot increase by more than 4pc and our focus is to create an understanding of what is a very complex legislative framework.”

The introduction of Rent Pressure Zones coincides with the spike in calls and emails received by the RTB.

Updated, 11.28am, 30 August 2017: This article was amended to clarify that the 37pc rate of growth in Dublin rent is since 2012.

The post Rents in Dublin have ballooned by 37pc since 2012, report shows appeared first on Silicon Republic.