Dr. Niall Muldoon:

I thank the Deputy. From my point of view, the clear indication that there has not been data collection is that the UN committee, as of November 2020, has asked for the State to give it disaggregated data on the cases of bullying and harassment in schools and, in a wider sense, the evidence and disaggregated data relating to child victims of violence, sexual exploitation and bullying in general outside of the school setting. We are trying to get that data. The UN is not happy with the type of data that have been gathered so far.

As regards the database on the number of instances of bullying, some of the other witnesses may be able to address that point. The Deputy is correct that off-site bullying is an issue. Ten years ago, before I worked in the Ombudsman for Children's Office, I worked as a psychologist. I remember many principals said there was a separation and they could not deal with such bullying. I must acknowledge that most principals are now willing to take that on board because it is part of what children experience. It is part of their lifestyle and it happens all the time. The best place to deal with that is within a school setting.

There is a system in place that tends to look for accountability as opposed to moving towards the personal and compassionate and asking why something is happening and how it can be prevented. Again, we need to keep pushing for a culture change that allows for the sharing of diversity and the promotion of respect for the self and each other. That would carry through regardless of whether the setting is online, offline, inside or outside of school, in sports clubs or any other setting.

Deputy Conway-Walsh referred to the whole-of-community effect, which will be crucial so that everybody has the same set of values and culture. That would be a step forward and would help principals enormously because they would not have to deal with all of these things on their own.