Dr. Seline Keating:

I will answer the second question. If I were to wave my magic wand, I would give every primary and secondary school in Ireland an audit tool to assess the effectiveness of their policy every year. This would comply with the existing oversight management which is outlined in the Department of Education procedures for schools. It would highlight to schools what they are doing well. We do not want to come across as telling schools precisely what they should be doing. Schools need to understand what great work they are already doing and how to build on that work. They should assess their policy annually and include every staff member, the caretaker, the school secretary and anyone who may potentially witness bullying behaviours in the school. They need to be aware and have a voice so they know what to do. If those data were centralised, it could feed into annual reports highlighting areas where schools are struggling and areas in which schools are succeeding. That can assist in putting supports in place the following year.