Call for better child protection from abusive texts

MOBILE phone companies and the state’s telecoms regulator are to be asked by an Oireachtas committee why they are not using available technology to protect children from abusive and inappropriate calls and text messages.

The Joint Committee on Communications and Energy and Natural Resources was told yesterday that mobile operators in Ireland were reluctant to use software developed by an Irish company to restrict unsolicited text and voice calls made to children.

Chief operating officer with Sentry Wireless, Sharon Kiernan, said the company had developed software, with the support of Enterprise Ireland, that can be downloaded onto a SIM card so parents could easily control their child’s mobile use.