Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

I call for an interdepartmental debate on the social, personal and health formation of our young people. This is the third time I have made the request. I say this as a result of the "Prime Time Investigates" programme on cyber bullying. I have raised the issue of bullying on numerous occasions. This is the second major study in this country. The Programme for International Student Assessment, PISA, reported that 43% of our children had been bullied in the current term. Some 95 of the 4,500 children surveyed experienced physical violence in the term.

We cannot load everything onto schools. I received a call from a school principal this morning whose deputy principal broke down as a result of the programme last night. Much help is needed by parents. Parents have telephoned me to say they do not know what to do. They also need guidelines and, in the context of the broad debate on the social, personal and health formation of our young people, we must examine how we can help parents. We must examine the social debt owed to society by Internet providers, by Facebook and by Bebo. They are making a fortune on the backs of our young people. We are not managing to control them or to get anything from them to invest in our youth.

I wish also to raise today the collapse of the social housing project for Dublin. This is not new. In Galway, there are 3,000 people on the housing waiting list, with people from the west side of the city, including Salthill, waiting ten years for a house and people on the east side waiting six years. As funds promised last year by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government will not be forthcoming this year, Galway City Council has had to take out a €1 million bridging loan to complete its project. The Department has reneged on its promises. I ask that the Leader invite the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, with special responsibility for housing, Deputy Michael Finneran, to the House to discuss the issue. We do not hear a great deal about housing in the Seanad, and we must address the issue urgently. Galway City Council will not be able to meet even its Part V requirements from the money available to it this year.