Dr. Niall Muldoon:

This is part of the case about data collection. There is no result if a school fails in regard to policy. The Department only looks to see if a school has a policy. I would like to see how many times it has been used in the year, what it has been used for and its success rate. Again, that would allow us to find out who has been successful and who has communicated well around this.

Much of the time it is about finding a perpetrator and dealing with the perpetrator in a disciplinary area. The committee has heard from all the therapists that this is not the way forward. Even when we consulted with children, they were clear that it has to be a relationship between the two people, the bullies and the victim. That has to be dealt with and often schools just do not do that. That is a cultural point with which we need to deal.