Dr. Alan Gorman:

To link with what Professor O'Higgins Norman and Mr. Heaney said, there is also a real importance to building up capacity within schools through a range of programmes. It is not just about one specific programme but about looking at the range of supports we currently have in Ireland. An example would be building up leadership capacity, particularly for early-career principals, looking at the supports currently available to them through the Centre for School Leadership, through advisory bodies such as the Professional Development Service for Teachers, PDST, and the inspectorate as well. It is also about linking in with other key policy developments to supports schools, for example the Inclusive Education Framework developed by the National Council for Special Education. It is a very important policy document to support schools in that way. It is important that we are building up capacity within schools. It is top-down but as Professor O'Higgins Norman said it is bottom-up as well so schools have the agency to identify areas they need to work on and address those areas in relation to what they need in order to address bullying as well.