Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Exactly. Bullying is an evolving problem that needs a multi-agency approach that starts in the home, continues in schools and, hopefully, will percolate into the community. I hope we will reach a situation in which all interventions where children are concerned will have an antenna for bullying and there will be procedures in place to identify and deal with the issue. There has been great success in recent times in terms of child protection. There are now protocols and procedures in place to ensure that child abuse is detected quickly. The measures range from proper Garda vetting of the people who deal with vulnerable young people to child safety procedures in sports clubs, religious schools and so on. What the Minister has started here will commence the process whereby the same types of interventions will eventually exist to identify the early stages of bullying.

There is no community at this point that has not experienced young people taking their lives as a result of bullying. In my community two years ago, just before the junior certificate examination, a young man took his own life. As a result, his family set up a very successful organisation called the William Winder Rainbow Foundation. It tries to organise for young people to receive counselling and interventions at an early stage. Elsewhere, similar voluntary organisations have been established following horrific tragedies, and they do a lot of good. There must be a multi-agency approach in order to provide a coherent anti-bullying strategy to deal with the issue. I want everyone to work in tandem and to at least ensure that bullying is identified early. I commend the many people who do exceptionally good work, raise money and provide services and support structures. I want to see all of their voluntary efforts pulled together into one powerful strategy.

The Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, has spoken about the issue in the Seanad and today we have the Minister for Education and Skills in the House. Other Ministers are very keen to play their part in dealing with bullying. We need to make sure all of the available resources are targeted. I want the Minister, the Minister of State and the many charitable organisations that collect money to work together. Let us all pull together to avoid duplication, thus using finite resources to greater effect and ensuring they are properly targeted.

Let us examine the types of work that people are doing. Senator John Gilroy is touring the country holding public forums in order to hear stories and learn how things can be improved. The whole area of suicide, mental health and bullying is definitely getting attention and is a priority for the Oireachtas, not just for the Government. It is a priority for all parties and none. The issue is not a party political one, although it is political. A united approach will yield results and I commend Senator Averil Power on her words in that regard.

All we can do is to wish the Minister well and play our part. It would be a good idea if the Minister could return in 12 months' time to report progress. We all need to be on top of bullying. We must ensure that we have the knowledge and can inform our communities about what the Government is doing and bring the response from communities to the Government. It is a two-way process and we must all share that responsibility.

Bullying is a scourge at present. It must be nipped in the bud and dealt with as much as it possibly can be. As has been said already, we will never eliminate bullying altogether. As long as there are human beings there will be bullying, but we can at least put safeguards in place to identify it at an early stage.