Mr. Hubert Loftus:

One of Senator Moran's questions was about the implementation of anti-bullying policies. One of the actions in the action plan published in January was to better strengthen the oversight arrangements in schools concerning implementation so that there is a better consistency of approach. We are updating the existing guidelines to take account of that.

Dr. Mona O'Moore, who is an acknowledged expert in the area of anti-bullying, would regard our existing guidelines - although they are a bit dated - as being very good. However, we are strengthening them in terms of better oversight. As part of that, there will be better oversight for the board of management within the school. In addition, the school principal will provide periodic reports to the board of management on incidents of bullying and how they are dealt with. There will be a standardised approach across all schools, including check-lists, monitoring implementation and an annual review of how bullying policy is implemented. That is recorded in the board of management records which ultimately would be available to our inspectorate whenever they are inspecting that school.

Another action within the action plan is for a thematic evaluation of bullying policies generally within the school system.