Ivor Callely - Working with you

Launch of the Irish Cellular Industry Association’s “Children and Mobile Phones – A Parents Guide”

The ICIA (Irish Cellular Industry Association) is an alliance of the mobile operators 3 Ireland, Meteor, 02 and Vodafone and the mobile handset manufacturer Nokia. The ICIA is affiliated to the Telecommunications and Internet Federation, which is part of ICT Ireland, the voice of technology within IBEC.

Those operators have agreed (for example see http://www.meteor.ie/misc/ICIACodeofPractice.pdfto) how the operators will deal with SPAM, bullying and malicious communications and produced a guide for consumers and parents.

On the 1st June, 2004, Mr Dermot Ahern T.D.,
Minister for Communications, Marine & Natural Resources
Launched the Irish Cellular Industry Association’s “Children and Mobile Phones – A Parents Guide”

He noted that a recent survey of the Irish communications market showed that there are now 3.4 million mobile phones in Ireland, and the average user sends 82 text messages per month. The mobile penetration rate in Ireland reached 87% at the end of 2003, an increase of 4% on the previous quarter.

He stated that “Parents have legitimate concerns about their children being potentially exposed to unsuitable or harmful content. Understandably they may wish to exercise control over whom their child contacts and who contacts their child and over the content to which their child has access”.

He emphasised “the role of parents in decisions concerning the purchase and use of mobile phones by their children. They should ensure that their children use them appropriately. This ultimately is the best way of safeguarding their children from the perils of abuse of such technology”.