Community safety initiative can help protect children online across Mayo

MEP for Mayo, Nina Carberry, this week hosted the ‘It Takes A Village’ project in Brussels, bringing one of Ireland’s most successful community-led online safety initiatives to the very heart of the EU.

The ‘It Takes A Village’ delegation, led by Rachel Harper, Principal of St. Patrick’s National School, Greystones, and Councillor Louise Fenelon-Gaskin, travelled to Brussels to present their project to Irish MEPs and senior officials in the European Commission.

MEP Carberry has been working closely with the project, whose primary aim is to encourage a shared delay in smartphone access until secondary school - a model she says could make a real difference for the more than 26,000 children living across Mayo - by bringing parents, schools and communities together.

Speaking from Brussels, MEP Carberry said: “Protecting children online is one of my core priorities. It’s here in Brussels where laws are made to regulate social media, hold platforms to account and set safety standards. But the message that Rachel and her project are bringing here today is that legislation on its own is not enough.

“Education programmes, peer-to-peer learning and buy-in from the entire local community are also needed. Getting the whole community to support the delay of smartphone rollout until at least the beginning of secondary school, means that no child or parent feels they are standing alone.

“I see a great opportunity for the model to be replicated right across the country. And the purpose of this trip to Brussels is really to highlight to people right at the top of the EU that this Irish-led community model can be replicated across Europe, where there are 65 million children under the age of 15,” Carberry added.

‘It Takes A Village’ began as a local response after Covid-19, to growing concern among parents and teachers about children’s anxiety, early smartphone access, social media pressure and exposure to harmful online content.

Carberry said the Brussels visit comes at an important moment for Europe. The EU is moving ahead with stronger age-verification tools, with rollout expected across Member States by the end of 2026.

Carberry has been pushing for stronger EU-wide age checks for social media and online platforms and has argued that the system must be effective, privacy-protecting and workable for families.