Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is clear from the contributions that we are united as one voice across the House in saying bullying is unacceptable behaviour whether it is on the basis of a person's gender, skin colour, sexual orientation, height, hair colour, spectacles or freckles or, in other words, all the various guises and excuses used to target an individual or child and systematically and deliberately to break down his or her confidence and ability to function in a healthy way. We say with a united voice that this is not acceptable and Members have pointed correctly to broader society where schools are a reflection of the world in which we and our children live. All of us who are parents have a responsibility to our children to keep them safe from bullying, to prevent them from being bullies and to instill in them a sense that when they witness bullying behaviour, they must name and challenge it. All of that is correct.

Our legislation does not set out to pretend that what it provides is a catch-all and absolute solution to bullying in society or in schools. No legislation could claim to do that but the difficulty we have, despite our unanimous and well-intentioned views in opposition to bullying, is we seem to be making a prescription for a scenario where everybody is responsible, including parents, teachers, boards of management and key influencers in society, but nobody is held accountable. The purpose of the Bill is to ensure in schools that have robust anti-bullying policies and effective prevention and intervention measures, a person is designated to oversee them and is made accountable for them, which is crucial. If we want to effect a cultural change in schools and to protect our children, we have to be sure there are robust accountability mechanisms in place and they must rest with adults. It is the duty of adults to keep children safe. Volunteers on boards of management are currently asked to take on daunting and responsible tasks up to and including finding the euros to keep the school doors open and the building heated.

I do not accept that it is a step too far to vest in a named individual on a board of management the responsibility for oversight and accountability. If we are not prepared to do that and legislate alongside our regulatory framework, all the goodwill in the world and all the words of condemnation amount to nothing. Accountability has to be instilled on this issue and that is what the Bill sets out to do. I am baffled by Government Members welcoming the debate and setting out the issues who will then vote against the legislation.

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