Dr. Mairéad Foody:

To follow up on the point about principals and the national action plan, that was research we conducted at the centre in which we assessed the work of principals in Ireland. There were more than 900 respondents, so while it was not every principal, it was a good sample. As Professor O'Higgins Norman said, that figure of 51% we talked about meant that 51% had not appointed a specific member of staff to deal with bullying cases in their school, but there were many very positive findings from the study. Almost every school, or 99% of them, has a policy and all the principals recognised the impact of bullying on school attendance, academic achievement and mental health. We are cautious in regard to being negative about the work that needs to be done on the procedures because principals are used to them and there is much good stuff in there.

The main finding from the work was that principals had not identified a specific anti-bullying programme. That study and other Irish studies, including one by Corcoran and McGuckin in 2014, have found that what principals in Ireland wanted above all was support in resourcing and finding materials related to bullying and to be told by the Department what intervention they should run and what steps they should take. They are seeking more support. They are doing everything in their power in terms of their policies. Our results show that perhaps assigning a specific member of staff might help.

On the point about tracking, that is a good idea and it is one place principals could start if they were given support with somehow being able to assess the level of bullying in their own school confidentially in order that they would not be afraid those data would be available or would influence their attendance rates, for example. They should also be given support in specific areas, if they need it, for it to be reduced, and that is something the FUSE programme could fit into.

A number of member raised this research. To clarify, it related to 900 principals from primary and post-primary - mainly the former - and covered both DEIS and non-DEIS schools. There was no difference in their responses depending on school type. In general, the responses were the same, irrespective of level or school type.