Mr. David Duffy:

I will briefly address the issue of bullying happening off site. It is a very complex issue. There are cases of bullying happening in schools and cases of bullying happening entirely outside of schools, for example, in a local sports club or between two next-door neighbours. Such cases can and, in many ways, should be resolved outside of the school complex. The complex bit is where something happens outside of the school environment but which nonetheless has an impact on the school, as Mr. O'Sullivan has mentioned. An example might be something that happens over a weekend but which causes tension between two students to manifest in the school context on the Monday or Tuesday. This then becomes an issue for the school to deal with. It is a complex issue. There are issues that are entirely within the school's remit and issues that are entirely outside it. The difficulty arises in the grey area in the middle where schools have a responsibility but are often unaware of the background to a situation. It is sometimes a matter about which they cannot do an awful lot anyway but that should not stop us trying.