News reports have confirmed that on Wednesday 26 July, after a public consultation period on the issue, the Irish Government have agreed to set the digital age of consent at 13 years of age. Article 8 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides that a child under the age of 16 cannot consent to the processing of their personal data without the express consent of their parents. EU Member States have been granted the discretion to set a lower age under the GDPR provided that it is no lower than 13.
The decision follows consideration of a submission made by Special Rapporteur for Child Protection, Dr Geoffrey Shannon, who had previously called for the lowest age of consent to be adopted in a Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality meeting on 5 July which discussed the General Scheme of the Data Protection Bill 2017. Dr Shannon stressed the importance of protecting a child’s right to participate and have their voice heard when considering the digital age of consent.
A similar decision has been taken in the UK where the Department of Digital, Culture, Media & Sport have confirmed that they intend to set the age of digital consent at the lower threshold of 13 years of age, in a Statement of Intent released on 7 August, discussing the proposed Data Protection Bill 2017.