Ms Rachel O'Connor:

I am happy to comment first. I see daily the impact social media can have, particularly on young girls in the context of body image. It is a travesty that the only place to treat eating disorders is a private hospital in Dublin. There is no particular specific help for young people in that regard these days. I see the impact on young boys in terms of pressure. In my experience, it is boys spending time online in the evenings, engaged in gaming, and that is the most negative impact of social media. The interaction between girls can be very negative. I refer to the exposure to what is the ideal body shape, the ideal body image, eating disorders and self harm. The incidence of self harm has increased exponentially in schools across the country. It is a really worrying trend and my fear as a school principal is that we do our best in terms of prevention but, when it comes to intervention, we do not have the supports outside school to back up what we do within schools. There is a massive gap in supports there. I refer to the use of social media. Social media is not the issue - social media is here to stay. Rather, it is about the use of social media and the responsible use of social media.

I think Mr. White said they have half an hour per week for social, personal and health education, SPHE, on the primary curriculum. We have one hour. Within that, we have great programmes, like Be In Ctrll and Lockers. They should be provided for every student in the country on a roll-out basis in a meaningful, non-tokenistic and impactful way. Responsible use of social media is the key here.