Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputies for their interest in the Bill and for their comments, not just concerning discipline but wider issues in education. This Bill is only one element in tackling problems of discipline, which is a serious issue for a small number of schools. In those schools, however, it needs to be addressed. The recommendations of the task force, which are being implemented as we speak, were very broad in range and this legislation is just one of those recommendations.

In answer to Deputy O'Sullivan, the task force comprises psychologists, teachers and principals and they will go into schools as teams. They invited every school to briefing sessions to explain what their work was about. They invited applications from schools, of which there were 124 in total, 50 of which they prioritised for immediate roll-out based entirely on the information given by the schools.

There is no set model for how this will work. Some schools need support in staff training and in internal management. Others need support to work with individual groups of children and others need behavioural support in the classroom. Even for the last of those there is no particular model because the support offered depends on the circumstances of the school and the issues it wishes to address. We do not have a preconceived notion of a particular model that will work but are open to what is happening on the ground and are keen to start work immediately.

The budget for 2007 is quite generous, at €8 million, and schools will immediately be notified. Next week is the mid-term break and the behavioural support team will start working the following week, meaning we will see real progress in its work this term. Schools will appreciate the high calibre of the leader and other members. Their experience on the ground and the ideas they bring to the team are varied and will help make a real difference.

They will have to consider other options for schools, such as the involvement of parents' councils and student councils, to give a voice to students, which are a crucial part of maintaining discipline and a code of behaviour.

To answer Deputy English's question, every school is required to have an anti-bullying policy. A template for a number of different policies has been given to all schools and is available on the website, giving schools a formula to use and adapt to their own situation. I referred earlier to the code on which the National Educational Welfare Board is working for primary schools and it is something for which schools have asked.

Staff, students and parents must sign up to a code of behaviour, or for that matter an anti-bullying policy, otherwise it will not work. Significant help has been given recently by the National Centre for Technology in Education, NCTE, on new forms of bullying such as web bullying, mobile telephone bullying etc. If I were to write out all the things that were happening in combatting bullying, such as the school support service, social, personal and health education, legislation, policy templates and campaigns and supports given by the NCTE, they would amount to a national strategy and that strategy is making a real difference in schools. It is unfortunate that people still suffer in schools, as they suffer in society, which is all the more reason why targeted initiatives need to be in place.

Deputy Enright raised a typical point. She mentioned a student who had applied to a number of schools and did not receive even one answer. If a parent applies formally to a school the school must answer within 21 days. If the school does not answer, the Department can ask for clarification and, if it continues not to answer, it is taken as a de facto refusal.

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