Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman for facilitating a late change of time with Senator O'Loughlin. I was a teacher for 15 years. Many committee members were teachers or were engaged in education in one form or another over the years. We have all sat on boards of management and played a role on that side of things in terms of education.

I might know the answer to my question, but I will ask it anyway. How effective are the anti-bullying procedures or arrangements currently in place in schools?

My second question follows on from that. I think I know the answer having listened to the earlier responses. Has a database been compiled on the number of bullying incidents or allegations of bullying in various education settings over the years ? Are there data on whether the allegations were successfully resolved or remain unresolved or outstanding or how have they been dealt with?

I ask this because in Northern Ireland a new anti-bullying law will be introduced in September whereby schools will account for those types of incidents and the motivation behind them. It would be interesting if we had a similar arrangement here or if it was something we could introduce.

My next question concerns bullying in schools. Many instances of bullying might happen off campus or outside a school setting. That created difficulties for principals and boards of management in the past because they would have said it was somebody else's issue. All of these bullying incidents inevitably find their way into school settings one way or another, through modern technology, people being friendly with other groups and so on. What is the experience of the witnesses in how boards of management deal with bullying that is happening off campus? Could they play a greater role in dealing with those types of issues?

I refer to data on the number of potential suicides caused by bullying in our schools. Are statistics on suicide being compiled, and how many suicides could be partially attributed to bullying of one form or another?