About

Hi, I'm John, and I want to change how we teach kids in Ireland about tech and cybersecurity.

It's 2026 and we are beginning to see bans for mobile phones and social media for children being introduced across the world. Australia led the way in Decemebr, with a number of European countries, including Spain and France, quickly following suit. Ireland also looks set to join the growing list of governments puttings stricter measures on social media use for under 16s into law. These measures have been taken in response to a growing awareness of the negative effects of participation in certain online activities on young children.

What we are not currently seeing are details on the education the children affected by these bans are to receive prior to, and in the early stages of, reaching this new age of digital consent. What are they to learn? At what age? For how long? Who will it be taught by?

Unfortunately, the resources and curriculum currently available in Ireland for tech and digital safety fall significantly short of what I would personally wnat for my own children. Minimising your digital footprint and controlling your own devices and data are among a range of topics which are key for privacy and security, but not covered at all, or in sufficuent detail,in the current materials.

To be fair to the creaters of the existing content, it is difficult to design learning materials on technology for the general public. Most parents and teachers are not tech experts and cannot be expected to learn the details of computing, networking, cryptography etc., in order to best teach the next generation. There is also the general belief that technology is a complex and difficult topic that is beyond the learning capabilities of children.

I believe that children can learn a huge amount about technology from a young age. I also believe that we do need people who understand the underlying technologies to be teaching children tech and online safety. If one wants to maintain privacy and security online, a certain minimum level of technical skills are required. It is preferable for these skills to be learned before a child possesses their own internet enabled device and begins creating a permanent, identifiable record of all their online activities.

To this end, I am developing a curriculum with the aim of teaching my own two kids this topic in the future. If enough parents are interested, I would be delighted to begin teaching small groups beginning in September.

If you are a parent and are interested in providing your input into the curiculum design, please fill out the survey. If you would like to express an interest for your child in upcoming classes and receive updates on the curriculum and plans for classes, please fill out the waitlist form.

About Me

Originally from Co. Down, I've worked in the fields of education and technology for the past 20 years.

On the education side, I began as an ESL teacher in South Korea helping small groups of primary school kids learn their ABCs. Postgraduate studies in Linguistics and then Computer Science at UCD led to my most recent post - Assistant Professor of Speech and Language Technologies at TCD. Through the years, I have had the opportunity to both develop and deliver curricula for primary, secondary and teritary students. I am a great believer in the effectiveness of hands-on, practical, task-based learning in small groups.

On the technical side, I hold a PhD in Computer Science from UCD and ISC2's CISSP certification in cybersecurity. I have worked as a software engineer for the ABAIR project, helping provide state-of-the-art Speech and Language Technologies for the Irish language to the general public. Developing web applications was where I started, and it has led more recently to the areas of infrastructure, networking and cybersecurity. I enjoy being creative with technology and using it to solve real-world problems.

Outside of work, I am a husband, father of two, a keen runner and and an even keener golfer. When not working or spending time with family, I can usually be found on the track at Dundrum South Dublin Athletics Club, or on the course at Stackstown Golf Club.

Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions:

info@digitalknights.ie