Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As my party's spokesperson on health and children, I urge Deputies on all sides, Government and Opposition, to support the Bill in the name of my colleague, Deputy Jonathan O'Brien.

Awareness of the extent of bullying in society has greatly increased in recent times. We are also more aware and knowledgeable about the effects of bullying on victims. As well as making the lives of children in school a misery, bullying can have seriously detrimental long-term effects on their mental and physical health and well-being in later life.

Last October the Oireachtas cross-party group on mental health, of which I am a co-convenor, organised a briefing for Oireachtas Members on bullying and mental health. It was addressed by Dr. Stephen Minton of the anti-bullying centre in the school of education at Trinity College Dublin who is also the co­author of Cyber-Bullying: The Irish Experience, Dr. Tony Bates of Headstrong, the national centre for youth mental health, and Ms Rose Conway Walsh of Erris, County Mayo, whose community development project is developing a youth mental health and well-being support structure for the county. The briefing was most informative and confirmed the critical importance of youth mental health. A key point is that resilience is best developed in the early years of a person's life. Moreover, the skills children develop at a young age will help them to cope better as adults. This applies to children's and young people's mental health in general but is especially relevant in the context of bullying. It is as important to equip children to respond to bullying or the threat of bullying as it is to seek to eliminate bullying in so far as that is possible, especially in schools.

Last year Headstrong published the "My World Survey" of more than 4,300 young people aged between 12 and 25 years, the most in-depth survey of the mental health and well-being of adolescents and young adults in the State. The survey was wide-ranging and among the key questions asked were some on respondents' experiences of bullying. More than 40% of the young people surveyed reported that they had been bullied at some point. Of these, 30% reported that the bullying had occurred in the past year, 14% in the past month, 4% on a weekly basis and 3% on a daily basis. With regard to where adolescents were most frequently bullied, 77% indicated in school, 5% over the Internet or by text - 2% and 3%, respectively - 5% at home and 13% elsewhere. Nearly half of females reported that they had been bullied compared to 40% of males.

School is clearly the main site where bullying is being experienced and endured by young people. Even accounting for a crossover between the figures for school, on the one hand, and the Internet and text messages, on the other, the figure for bullying by electronic means seems relatively small, especially given the publicity this form of bullying receives. However, we must also take into account the fact that for those who experience the most intense and persistent forms of harassment and intimidation, bullying by text and on the Internet is extremely distressing, making it seem that, even at home, the victim does not have a safe refuge. Consequently, we have seen terrible tragedies, with young people who are victims of this form of bullying being pushed to the extreme of taking their own lives.

Among the key themes in the survey, the following are relevant in the context of bullying: one good adult is important to the mental health of young people; not talking about problems is linked with suicidal behaviour; those who share their problems enjoy better mental health; and many young people in distress are not seeking help. Parents and schools need to encourage and facilitate children and adolescents to step forward and speak out if they are experiencing problems and feeling distress, irrespective of the level at which it occurs. It is also crucial that leadership is given by schools. In that context, if there is any hint that speaking out is in any way discouraged or made difficult or if there is any prospect that a school would try to minimise, ignore or conceal the reality of bullying, the victims are condemned to silent misery and the culprits facilitated.

The Bill is both a health and an education measure. The health of individual young people is greatly impaired by the experience of bullying. Their education is thwarted and a school where bullying is ignored or not properly addressed cannot be a fit place in which to educate children. Only a few short months ago the people endorsed in a referendum an amendment to the Constitution explicitly recognising for the first time the rights of children. For this amendment to have meaning, we must see its expression in terms of both legislation and practical measures to vindicate the rights of children. The Bill is such a measure, providing as it would a basis in law for practical action in every school to combat bullying. I urge the Government to accept the Bill, facilitate its passage, improve it, as required, and implement it, thus enhancing the rights, health and well-being of all children. In opposing it, as it has indicated it intends to do, the Government is again kicking the can down the road, which will result in untold misery and tragic consequences.

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