Jimmy Harte (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the House to discuss the issue. I also thank the Fine Gael Members for tabling this motion. I join other Members in paying my respects publicly to the family of Erin Gallagher who died tragically. Part of the collateral damage in that case was that her young brother was present when the suicide occurred. I would hope there could be some help in that area. There are so many aspects to cyberbullying and emotional bullying. Humans are not like other animals in that we engage in damaging other people physically, mentally and emotionally. It starts in the schoolyard and continues on through marriage and employment. Cases have been cited of bullying people who are disabled because it is easy. As Senator Moran said, every parent thinks that his or her child is not a bully when much of the time the bully lives within the house. The most difficult part is to identify a bully. We have all seen them in action at school, at work, in politics, as Senator Norris said, and in life in general.

I heard an interesting conversation on the radio about a suicide in Spain. It was stated it is unusual for people in southern Europe to commit suicide and that it is a northern European phenomenon. I do not know how this translates throughout the world and whether Africa and Asia are more like northern or southern Europe. Perhaps we can examine whether bullying is an issue specific to certain countries or cultures. In the UK and Ireland bullying is highlighted regularly and it is a crime against the person. It has been said that pressure is other people, and these other people can be eight, ten or 50 years old. There is a role for parents, teachers, employers and everyone who interacts with people on a daily basis to ensure bullying is not part of any such interaction. We all meet very respectful and outgoing people who we assume are mentally adjusted and who work in very prominent jobs. However, when one sits down with them perhaps they tell one of something that happened in their past which was related to bullying.

As previous speakers stated, certain boys and girls use strong arm tactics to pick on the weak people in the group. We must confront this and admit it happens more than occasionally. I believe it is learned behaviour and it can be unlearned. We have seen recent tragedies and I am sure more tragedies related to bullying will occur. People are fearful every day of the week. Children as young as four or five are pressured by other children or adults within and outside the family and this terror does not go away. It is constant.

There has been a history in this country of abuse and now cyberabuse is on a different level. For generations, in industrial homes in this country children were abused and bullied by the State and individuals. The saddest part for many of these children is that they did not have a birthday or Christmas. All they had was an existence and they were bullied into believing they were not useful. This is not a modern phenomenon. It has happened for generations. In a perverse way the Internet may give us an opportunity to halt this or highlight it so much that people will realise that bullying is a crime against the person. I thank the Minister for coming to the House. He is a reforming Minister and I am sure he will take on board the comments made by Senators. Perhaps he will return in a year to report that progress has been made and that something positive has been done.