Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

While I appreciate we are all on the side on this issue, I ask Members to have regard to what progress has been made. The last set of guidelines on bullying in the Department which we built upon and considerably modernised were drawn up in 1993. There was no reference to homophobic bullying whatsoever in those guidelines as it was not part and parcel of the landscape in terms of recognising there were such issues around that whole agenda, with which we are now sadly very familiar. The actions we have taken on bullying since last May are, by any measure, much more substantial than anything that has gone before. That, combined with the mental health well-being guidelines published recently, throws a light of focus on an area that all of us in society - this is not a party partisan observation - either ignored or did not listen to carefully enough. We have had a few tragic suicides that have caught the imagination in a very emotional way and have brought home how real the problem is. A background note supplied to me states that bullying behaviour is a complex social issue and as the action plan on bullying highlights it can happen in many different settings. Research shows that there is no single action which will produce significant or sustainable change. Complementary initiatives are required which target teachers, parents, children and young people. This is the approach we are pursuing in the action plan on bullying. As the anti-bullying working group suggested the need for further legislation can be addressed once the actions of the action plan have been implemented.

In summary, let us implement it. If it throws up the need in a particular way for legislative measures, then I will bring forward those legislative measures. It is too soon at this stage to sit down and start to design them when we have not yet seen the reaction of the action plan.

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