A NEW social enterprise aims to provide Irish parents with internet security software to supervise their children online, while raising money for a group of children’s charities.

Reassureme.com, launched last week, plans to donate up to 44 per cent of proceeds to 12 Irish charities including Barnados, Crumlin Children’s Hospital Medical and Research Foundation, Enable Ireland and The Jack Jill Foundation.

The site uses internationally recognised software to provide its service. The Parental Supervision software costs €49, while the complete Home PC Safety and Internet Security version is priced at €79.

Reassureme.com’s founding director David Girvan said he hoped to raise more than €5 million for children’s charities over five years, and to be making €2 million per year for the charities by 2015.

“We only need 13 per cent of the market after five years to reach our target,” he said at the launch. “IT security is a product you need every year, and once you become a customer, there’s a good probability that you remain a customer. I wanted to convert this model as a way to make money for charities.”

Mr Girvan said only 7 per cent of computer users in Ireland have some form of parental control software. “In parenting we set boundaries, but most parents can’t do that online because they think it’s too complicated,” he said.

Reassureme.com’s features include the ability to filter and block website content. It also has anti-virus and anti-spyware, time controls and usage monitoring. Parents can customise and set rules for each member of the family when using a PC.

Parents can also check reports of each child’s online activity and also change the control settings from their work computer.

Dr Gráinne Kirwan, a lecturer in cyber-psychology at the Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, said potential risks of the internet require continued parental supervision. “This is not something you do once the child is small; it’s ongoing. There are different dangers that children need to be aware of.”