Rónán Mullen (Independent)
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Of course it is too late if one takes the tech off the child as a response to him or her being bullied because that would be a disincentive to the child to tell about what might be happening.

There were a number of references by colleagues on the role of faith-based education. There was a tendency to talk about it as though it were a problem whereas I have a different optic. There is a Christian heritage, while it is more contested in our country now than it used to be, which is still a big influence on our schools. Part of that Christian heritage is the "love your neighbour" and "treat others as you would like them to treat you" principles, to look out for the vulnerable in particular. It seems to me that there is real positive heritage to draw on and use here and that perhaps faith schools in particular can set an example with their long-standing insights into how to promote the love your neighbour principle. Can we see that in more positive terms? It was brought home to me when a Catholic school principal told me at the time of the marriage referendum, that they were approached by a student whose family had a principled opposition to the referendum and was taking the most heat from colleagues at the time because of the shift in attitudes in society. We perhaps do not think about that very much, that we are in a constantly changing society where yesterday's focus of intolerance might be very different from that today. Is there a more positive ground we can reach for around using the inheritance of faith-based education to promote the love your neighbour principle and the anti-bullying consequences that surely flow from it?