Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests to the committee. It is great to see Dr. Noctor and Dr. Hayes, both clinical psychologists, as well as Ms O'Malley, Ms Briody and the Ombudsman for Children, Dr. Muldoon. When we held a meeting on this subject on 5 November, it was the UN Day against Violence and Bullying at School including Cyberbullying. We heard from the National Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre at Dublin City University, DCU, on all the systems and programmes it was examining. It highlighted the FUSE programme in particular. Our guests might comment on how that should be rolled out. It was intended to train teachers but, as far as I am aware, it has been in place only since September of last year.

As Dr. Noctor stated, a high level of mental impacts result from bullying and 80% of the children who have presented to him have experienced bullying. Dr. Briody stated that there are significant impacts for perpetrators as well as for victims. It was surprising to me that bullying impacts on everybody, from the perpetrators to the victims and bystanders as well. It is important for bystanders to step up and have a say in preventing this type of behaviour.

I liked Dr. Noctor's point that it is important that being safe from bullying is treated as a basic human right and we need to take seriously that we should be able to attend a school or club free from any sort of hostility or exclusion. I feel strongly about the measures that were mentioned regarding training therapists, guidance counsellors and staff to be emotionally aware. It is about a positive school environment. We need to have anti-bullying policies and it should not just be a box-ticking exercise.

On the school environment and training for staff and students, I am curious about mediation training. Does Dr. Noctor have an opinion on the FUSE programme being rolled out by DCU? What impact should it have for parents' associations or school boards?

Turning to Dr. O'Malley, how do we encourage the take-up of programmes such as FUSE, particularly in rural areas with smaller schools and larger secondary schools?

Dr. Muldoon mentioned that data should be collected from schools to allow us to make decisions. Does he mean the use of surveys?