Parents unaware of online sex messages to kids

DESPITE Irish parents being among the strictest in the EU in supervising their children’s use of the internet, 10% of 11 to 16-year-olds received sexual messages online but less than a quarter of their parents knew about it.

Bullying, discussions about suicide and drugs, invitations to meet or send information and photographs of a sexual nature are all encountered by internet users, no matter how young, an EU survey has found.

Over a quarter of parents (27%) said they were not aware of these sexual messages while half contradicted their child and said it had not happened.