Mr. Hugh Ahern:

As I said to Senator Dolan, there is an issue. People are not speaking up that much with the staff and teachers of the school. That confidence needs to be built within the school environment. Teachers should have a more friendly appearance than the teachers of the members' generation who came across as figures of authority. They should still come across to our generation as figures of authority but they should also be welcoming of complaints. Bullying should not be an issue that should be ignored. It should be listened to.

In my school, we fill out a form every month. It has not been happening during the Covid pandemic. Students from each year fill out a form and it is completely anonymous. The students write down, I think, three names - I forget it now because it has been so long since we did it - of people who they think may be being bullied and people they know are being bullied, and someone may speak out. Then, I believe, they approach the students who are on that list and have a conversation with them to make sure that everything is okay. That would be quite a good activity to roll out nationally as I believe students would speak out more if it was anonymous rather speaking to the teacher.