Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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I thank the witnesses for their attendance this afternoon. I have three questions for all of the witnesses. I would like first to speak about a really important aspect of this conversation. In 2018, the former Joint Committee on Children and Youth Affairs, inclusive of Deputy Ó Laoghaire at one point, created a report on cyber safety as it applied to children and young adults. There are 11 recommendations in that report, which is a modest number of recommendations for an Oireachtas report. In recommendations Nos. 9, 10 and 11 the committee recommended Government advance the establishment of cyber safety programmes in primary and secondary schools; that cyber safety education should be formalised at primary and secondary level and that the training of teachers should include cyber safety education at primary and secondary level. While some of those recommendations have been implemented, others have not, and that informs this discussion.

My questions are short and, again, are for all of the witnesses. Do they believe that our faculty staff, in other words the administration of our schools and the teachers, are sufficiently equipped to intervene and deal with instances of bullying, whether in-person or cyberbullying? My next question is for Mr. Holmes in particular. Does he believe that the buddy system, which is used in many primary schools, particularly at junior and senior infant level, could be rolled out at secondary level to provide the student with somebody that they know, particularly in the first few months, and following on from that somebody to whom they could go and confide in if instances of bullying arose? My teenage years are a long time off, but I remember that sort of system operating in my school. It was beneficial to students, but I am not sure that it is rolled out across the board. I would appreciate a response to those questions, following which, time permitting, I would like to pose one more question.