Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the contributors for their strong opening statements and for providing briefing documents. I also thank the Chair for allowing an extended period for us to delve into this issue. If the witnesses had been part of the first session, their report to us would have been much more hurried and a lot less detailed. What we have seen laid out in front of us will build on the previous discussions, which is welcome. We are getting to delve into issues such as restorative practice in a meaningful way. I hope that we will produce a good report from this and make some recommendations that we can follow up on. We have also provided a space to talk about an environment where children can thrive. We are coming to a deeper understanding that schools are about much more than curriculum delivery alone.

Ms O'Connor, in using the phrase "Maslow before Bloom", gave me a very simple thing to latch on to and redefine my own thinking a little. In a more common-sense way, Mr. Irwin said that we should have a psychologist when one is needed. That is so simple yet it could make a big difference.

Over the weeks there has been a great deal of emphasis on cyberbullying and it is clear that cyberbullying is a new issue. It has always been the case that bullying happens where adults are not present. We must equip children with tools but there is something qualitatively different about cyberbullying as it can travel inside and outside of the school gates, it can travel over weekends and it can travel countrywide in a short time.

I echo the comment Ms O'Connor made about youth mental health services, CAMHS and NEPS. Like her, I am from the south east and there is a significant deficit in the region. I worry for the young people who live in that corner of the country.

One of the presentations mentioned the need to have one good adult. As well as having one good adult, we need an adult like me, which has been referenced. For many children when they look at the person who stands at the head of their classroom they do not see anybody who looks like them and that can be to do with race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or religion. The religion and sexual orientation issues come back to the ethos in some of the schools and they are still a barrier. I ask the witnesses to comment on the matter. Are we doing well enough in making staffrooms a welcoming enough place as well? Can people acknowledge that difference in staffrooms? I worry that sometimes people feel they cannot fully be themselves within their staffrooms.

There is a major question around the space to do this work because there is massive curriculum overload both at primary and secondary levels. When we address the issue of curriculum reform we must ask ourselves how can we provide space for initiatives such as restorative practice to be engaged with meaningfully or, as I have referenced previously, SPHE, which is scheduled for 30 minutes a week at primary level. That is not nearly enough.

The other thing I will give Mr. White the chance to dig into in more detail is the bullying he mentioned and the physical intimidation experienced by principals, particularly female principals. He is here to represent the IPPN but can he say if that is reflected in the general staff as well as principals?