Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the witnesses for their contributions. Much has been said at this stage. In 2012, I was involved in developing a whole-community and whole-school approach to bullying with the Trinity anti-bullying centre, with Stephen Minton and Leanne Bart. It was part of a community development project that obviously involved the whole community. I cannot see any other way that we can tackle bullying meaningfully except through a whole-community approach. Within that, there was the Garda, the GAA, the soccer clubs, clinicians, teachers, students and everybody else involved in the approach. It worked and it is one of the evidence-based models that was produced.

Now we have a huge amount of information internationally and nationally. We have the evidence-based models. It is time to look at how we bring all this forward. I commend the schools which implement good anti-bullying policies. There are good practices out there and I know of them even in my own area. We need to encourage the schools which are not participating. I was always concerned when teachers said bullying did not happen in their schools. Straight away, that should alert us. I would not send my child to a school where the board of management or the teachers said bullying did not happen there. We know that where there are human beings, there is the potential to be bullied and for bullying behaviour. It is about how we deal with it. We have models of good practice there to deal with it.

We have not spoken about the whole cost of bullying. We are being foolish in terms of not investing in the way that we need to tackle school bullying in a meaningful way. Have we estimated how much it has cost us? In Australia, it is estimated to cost €2.3 billion. From an economic and social point of view, it makes sense for us to get a grip of this. That is why I am glad the committee is putting aside some sessions to deal with this.

When 400 cases arrive on Dr. Muldoon's desk, after all these years, we have to ask why. We must assume there is a gravity to those cases and that all other procedures have been gone through in trying to deal with them. That is a failure of the system. That is 400 failures about which we know. We also know that the majority of children suffer in silence and damage is being done. What measurements are in place to see if the anti-bullying procedures divvied out to schools are actually working? I hate to use the word "sanctions". However, what sanctions are in place if an anti-bullying policy is not implemented in a school? I use the word "sanctions" in the wider sense of the word. What extra resources have been specifically ring-fenced to deal with bullying in schools over the past ten years?

In part of the project we did, Drumcondra accepted and approved the teacher training that had to be done. Is there a recognised training programme for teachers that is sufficient to meet their needs in order for them to be able to tackle bullying in the way they need to? I like the idea of having a counsellor in place for national schools, both in terms of supporting teachers as well as children. It is also good in terms of the wider acceptance of seeking help when one needs it. That would have many broader benefits, above and beyond helping the children that would need to see the counsellor.