Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the ISPCC on its launch of the ISPCC shield yesterday. It has dedicated a month to an anti-bullying campaign and has produced an excellent toolkit for schools. The initiative has been launched on foot of the fact that 8,000 children rang Childline in 2014 because of their experience of bullying. The issue is not just prevalent in the workplace and is still very much prevalent in schools. We should embrace the ISPCC's approach which makes tackling bullying the responsibility of all of us rather than saying it is the responsibility of schools, parents, etc. All of us must tackle bullying and we all need to see how we can work with the organisation.

I support Senator Bacik's call to repeal reasonable chastisement. In Ireland, at the moment, we allow for reasonable chastisement not just by parents of children but for people who mind up to three children. On the floor of this House I have advised the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Reilly, that I had an amendment on the matter. I sent it to him a few months ago and I believe he has sent it to the Office of the Attorney General for examination. My proposal is simple to implement. I ask Senators to think about this matter. Sometimes we evoke childhood memories and declare such chastisement did us no harm. Would Senators allow us to have a debate asking if it was okay to hit a fellow Senator? I suggest we would not have such a debate and yet we say it is okay to hit somebody who is smaller than us and who has no power. We say that is okay but I think it is very much not okay and Ireland needs to step into line. It would be regrettable if we waited until the end of May for the Council of Europe to bring forward a ruling on same. Let us do the right thing because it is the right thing to do.

I wish to mention that the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill shall be debated by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children. This week we will commence a month of hearings on the legislation. The hearings will make a difference to the cultural attitude to alcohol in this country.

The committee will talk about the availability and pricing of alcohol. On that note, I feel strongly that the drinks industry has a role to play. It makes profits for its shareholders so should play no role in public health initiatives. I am alarmed to hear that the Drink Aware organisation is talking about rolling out a programme to schools. It should not be allowed over the threshold of any school in whatever costume it puts on. We have the HSE and other people that can provide advice to schools, plus we have the Stop Out-of-Control Drinking campaign. The drinks industry has no role to play in public health. I ask my colleagues not to facilitate a role for the drinks industry to play in public health campaigns and suggest we need to take responsibility.