Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I also welcome the commitment given by the Leader on the forthcoming debate on the Disability Bill. It is crucially important that Members be able to deal with the issues that have been raised repeatedly over the past two years by various groups and individuals.

As regards the tragedy in County Meath, after the Omagh bombing I visited some of the schools whose pupils had been killed in the explosion. Similarly, I spoke with teachers and the school authorities following the Dunblane tragedy in Scotland. One of the problems that exists in such situations in Britain, Ireland and even the United States, is how to deal with crises affecting schools.

There is no properly understood psychological or psychiatric method of dealing with such crises. Small things can become major problems, including how a school deals with media inquiries and whether individual or group counselling should be employed. Another issue is whether survivors should be encouraged to return to the scene of the accident and, thus, relive it. The roles of families and friends are also important in this respect. Other key questions include whether grieving is best done individually or collectively and the impact of grieving from one person to another. There is also an impact within school classrooms. Major issues are involved here, yet there is no proper way of dealing with such circumstances. It would be helpful to have a model from which to work.

This was a major tragedy but one death in a school can be tragic also. I saw the effect on a school where a child had been inadvertently dragged along by a bus and died as a result. I saw another case where an oil tanker inadvertently killed a child in a school yard. Such tragedies affect schools and their surrounding communities. The question is how such matters should be dealt with. It would be helpful if the Departments of Education and Science and Health and Children would put together some plan for dealing with such situations, which could then be made available to schools. Some years ago, I tried to initiate such a process and made some progress on it. However, this needs to be done professionally and in an organised and focused manner.