Mr. Hugh Ahern:

Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis an gCathaoirleach agus leis an gcoiste as an onóir agus an deis iontach a bheith i láthair os comhair an choiste seo. My name is Hugh Ahern and I am a student of the Patrician Academy in Mallow. I am in second year and I have a keen interest in social and political issues. The definition of bullying is "the repeated use of threats or violence in an attempt to harm or intimidate others". The definition for cyberbullying is “the use of the internet to frighten or upset someone, usually by sending them unpleasant messages”. A nationwide survey of bullying in first and second level schools conducted by Trinity College Dublin estimates that 31% of primary and 16% of secondary school students have been bullied at some time during their school years.

While cyberbullying tends to not take place during the school day, it may be carried out by a student outside of school hours. It is much more difficult for a teacher, fellow student, parent or guardian to spot cyberbullying compared with normal bullying. However, normal bullying has no record of the act, only human reflection. Cyberbullying, though, has a digital footprint and can be traced back to the day it began. Cyberbullying can often be more harmful and threatening than other forms of bullying as it is always with you and there is no getting away from it.

What can the education system do? I will make some recommendations. Each school should be required to have a counselling service for students who need to talk to a professional rather than a teacher. This service could be in the school building or the school could refer students to a counsellor. I recommend the committee advise the Department of Education to look at updating the anti-bullying procedures for primary and post-primary devised in September 2013, as some of the policy may be outdated. It is eight years old and many changes have happened since in respect of cyberbullying. There should also be a full overhaul of the topic of bullying within the social, personal and health education, SPHE, curriculum and the production of a more up-to-date curriculum. I also recommend that teachers should go on a training course about bullying in the school environment, and such a course should confront issues from the points of view of the bully, the victim and the bystanders. In addition, I recommend that it should be mandated that a student representative be present when key decisions pertaining to student issues, such as an anti-bullying policy, are made by school boards of management. Students get little or no say in these policy decisions and they are the ones with the experience. Finally, I believe there should be a well-being day in each school as many students can get overwhelmed by day-to-day interactions.

I thank the committee for this opportunity and welcome any questions or concerns. Go raibh míle maith agaibh.