Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the officials for appearing before us today and commend the work they are doing in regard to child pornography, which is a very serious issue. There appears to be good co-ordination, communication and joined-up working between the Government here and governments internationally to address this problem. However, I am not so sure that is the case in regard cyberbulling, the specific area we are zoning in on today.

Part of the office's role is awareness raising among the public. I have spoken to the parents of youngsters who died by suicide where there was prima facie evidence that cyberbullying was a key part of it. They became aware of the office's existence only after talking to some people concerned about this phenomenon. The office needs to do a little work to raise awareness about what it does so that parents and teachers can get advice before the crisis point is reached.
The hotline.ie website is understandably focused on child pornography, but there should be an equivalent site or a section of hotline.ie to help handle cyberbullying. Perhaps we need to go in this direction. A person, in particular a young person, who is being cyberbullied or a teacher or parent should have easy access to a source which will trigger a series of steps. Either hotline.ie or a site like it could be the vehicle to do that.