The public is being urged to have its say on how old children should be before they are allowed to access social media.

It is part of new EU plans for a so-called ‘digital age of consent’ of anywhere between 13 and 16.

The plans will allow individual countries to set the minimum age at which children can sign up to website’s using their personal data.

Data Protection minister Dara Murphy is calling for a national debate on the issue.

Minister Murphy said: “New EU data protection rules will come into force in May 2018 which strengthen the requirement for organisations to obtain people’s consent before processing their personal data.

“Importantly, the rules require parental consent to be given for children and young people below a certain age, before they can sign up for digital services.

” The new EU rules allow individual Member States to set the age anywhere between 13 and 16. Below that age, parental consent will be required.”

“It’s extremely important for the protection of our young people in Ireland and their data privacy that we get the age limit right. We need to have an informed national debate on this issue.”