Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and, as usual, she has relayed words of wisdom which are appreciated. Bullying, particularly homophobic bullying, is a crime against humanity. While it is a political issue, thankfully, it is not a party political issue. There is unanimity across all political parties that this issue must be addressed and whatever steps must be taken to eradicate such bullying will be welcomed. I come from a county where Phoebe Prince was a student before moving to America. That was a high profile case of bullying and there was a sad case in County Leitrim last week, which was equally traumatic and tragic. This also encompassed cyberbullying as well as bullying in general. Bullying is a serious problem in our schools, especially with the advent of text messaging, Facebook and Twitter and other ways and means of perpetrating hurt against people and perpetrating acts that are not acceptable. As a society, we all have to be vigilant against bullying. Homophobic bullying questions someone's identity and makes him or her feel inadequate because of his or her identity. I commend previous speakers because most of what I feel has been reflected in their contributions.

I also commend the NGOs in this area, particularly those represented in the Visitors Gallery such as GLEN and BeLonGTo. The work they have done has paved the way to improvements. There is legislative provision in place but, hopefully, this will be tightened up going forward. I also await with interest the recommendations in the report of the working group set up by the Minister for Education and Skills. Senator van Turnhout is correct in the sense that we are talking in a vacuum but I am confident that when the report is published, we will have another opportunity to debate this issue. I will encourage the Leader to provide us with such an opportunity in light of the working group's recommendations.

We have all dealt with people who have suffered greatly as a result of homophobic bullying.

I encountered a case recently in which a hearse pulled up at the home of a young gay person seeking his remains. It was simply appalling stuff. This is the level of intimidation that is going on in society. As legislators, Members sometimes feel powerless because regardless of what legislation may be introduced, how can one prevent something like that from happening except by ensuring those responsible for it are held accountable? Everyone has examples of such bullying and the examples to which Senator van Turnhout referred regarding people seeking asylum in Ireland certainly are important and such issues must be addressed with absolute urgency. International experience is one thing but Ireland must take a lead. It will hold the Presidency of the European Union during the first six months of 2013 and I hope it will lead the way in coming up with best practice in respect of legislation and dealing with such bullying.

As I stated, bullying is bullying and in ways, homophobic bullying is the same as "ordinary" bullying. The only difference is it involves bullying based on identity and tries to make people feel their identity is in some way inadequate. This must be addressed and I note a very interesting discussion took place at a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality at which the various NGOs made presentations. Having spoken to joint committee members afterwards, it was considered to be a most informative experience. On foot of the presentations given by the NGOs and the Oireachtas Members asking questions and discussing the issue, people came away from that experience much better informed than beforehand. In fairness to the Government, this issue has been at the centre of the Minister of State's agenda. She has quite happily attended or launched any initiative to which she has been invited and is in the House today because her attendance has been requested by Members. This issue is a centre point of equality. In this context, the merging of the Equality Authority and the Irish Human Rights Commission will bring a more focused and dedicated approach to dealing with all such issues, particularly those pertaining to equality and so on.

I look forward to the report and debating its recommendations and, more important, seeing a pathway to their implementation.