Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Deputy O’Brien’s Bill reflects widespread concern in this House and society at large. The action plan on bullying due to be published in the coming days will address those concerns comprehensively. It has been produced by the anti-bullying working group which was established in June 2012 following a successful anti-bullying forum set up by the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, and the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Fitzgerald, in response to a request from the National Anti-Bullying Coalition.

I was happy to have been instrumental in the establishment of that forum. I have worked closely with that organisation since its inception, and in its visits to the Dáil and presentations to Members it has brought home to us the horrendous human costs of bullying. Nobody who has heard the first hand testimony of people such as Jeremy Prince or Jonathan Pugsley on their visits to this House, who lost their children to suicide, could be in any doubt about the need to strengthen the protection available to our children both in and outside school.

I believe it must become mandatory for schools to record incidents of bullying and to put in place corrective and, most importantly, preventative bullying policies. It is interesting to note there is a yawning gap between how bullying is treated in the workplace and how it is treated in the education system and in the school environment. That is instructive. Ideally, the approach to bullying should always include parents, but schools should have discretion as to whether to inform parents in cases where such an action could add to the distress of the child. As Deputy Tuffy said, it is a complex issue.

In her definition of bullying, Professor O'Moore of Trinity College stressed the repetitive nature of the act, which Deputy O'Brien also includes in his definition. Professor O'Moore also emphasises the need to adopt a holistic approach to tackling the problem. It is not possible to tackle one form of bullying and then return to deal with the rest. There must be an underlying philosophy and guidelines which can be adjusted to tackle bullying in all its manifestations, be it racism, homophobia, targeting those with disabilities or simply targeting the child who wears the wrong clothes in somebody's opinion or listens to the wrong music. I look forward to the forthcoming publication of the action plan as another positive step in protecting our children.

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