Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. I am especially pleased that he mentioned the anti-bullying policy developed by the Department. He is correct to state that an issue arose about identity-based bullying. That has been raised by many interested parties, in particular by the Irish Traveller Movement. I hope the Department will support the initiative to tackle identity-based bullying. One way of doing so is the yellow flag programme although I am not sure where the funding will come from if we are depending on the philanthropic sector. The yellow flag programme should be supported in the same way as the green flag scheme for the environment, which has been supported by local authorities and the Department.

The bottom line is that schools have changed and different challenges and issues face them. We must move to deal with them. I hope it will be the case that the rights of ethnic minorities will be dealt with by the Government at a later stage. The Children’s Rights Alliance award of an E grade to the Government suggests we face a serious challenge. I hope the Minister will deal with the issues confronting schools. Different issues face schools currently and significant challenges arise with the diverse school population.

See this speech in context