The Government’s plan to restrict social media access for under-16s is a laudable one which appears to align with the intentions of several other countries.

Some of those are among our near neighbours in Europe — France backed legislation to ban children under 15 from social media only last month, while Greece is expected to follow suit. Spain has also announced plans for a social media ban for under-16s. Australia, meanwhile, implemented a social media ban for under-16s before Christmas.

Already a subscriber? Sign in

You have reached your article limit.

Subscribe to access all of the Irish Examiner.

Annual €130 €80

Best value

Monthly €12€6 / month

Subscribe

Introductory offers for new customers. Annual billed once for first year. Renews at €130. Monthly initial discount (first 3 months) billed monthly, then €12 a month. Ts&Cs apply.

Robert Duvall: A quiet force in ‘The Godfather’

The actor Robert Duvall passed away earlier this week at the age of 95.

In his long career, Duvall stole the show in a succession of classic movies. His first film role would have made him famous on its own — he played the reclusive and mysterious Boo Radley in the much-loved To Kill A Mockingbird as long ago as 1962.

Duvall was nominated for an Academy Award seven times, winning eventually for Tender Mercies in 1984, by which time his list of roles was already dazzling.

He was Colonel Kilgore in Apocalypse Now, a cynical TV executive in Network, and a convincingly slimy reporter who puzzles out Robert Redford’s secret in The Natural.

Even that partial list fails to do justice to turns as various as a cabbie in Bullitt and Tom Cruise’s adviser in Days of Thunder.

If pushed, readers may perhaps settle on his turn as Tom Hagen, the quiet consigliere in the first two Godfather movies advising Marlon Brando and Al Pacino in turn, as a favourite role. At one point, he calmly clarifies his ethnic status for an opponent: “I’m German-Irish.”

In truth, however, Duvall could be anything he wanted to be.