David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A little bit of practise what we preach might not go astray. However, I take Senator Conway's point. It is well made.

I commend the proposer of the Bill for allowing us to have this important debate on bullying and cyberbullying. In 2013, my colleague, Deputy Jonathan O'Brien, tabled a Private Members' Bill in the Dáil entitled the education and welfare (amendment) Bill. This is another example of a Bill introduced by a member of the Opposition to address the issue of bullying in schools but being voted down by Government, including the Labour Party. The education and welfare (amendment) Bill sought to impose mandatory requirements on schools to adopt counter-bullying and preventative measures and to direct the Minister for Education and Skills to introduce regulations based on existing guidelines. As I said, that Bill was rejected by the Government as a whole.

In 2013, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communications produced an extensive report into cyberbullying, a copy of which I have with me today. This report contains many recommendations, many of which have not been implemented. I call on the Government, the Minister, Minister of State and the Senator who proposed this Bill to review that document and the many recommendations therein in respect of which there is all-party support. It is not beyond us to craft a Bill which can have all-party support and do something meaningful in relation to the issues being raised. The committee made some progressive suggestions as to what could be done to tackle cyberbullying, including increase funding for schools to educate young people on how to use social media, increased communication between schools, hotlines, social media companies and the provision of more resources to the Data Protection Commissioner and the computer crime investigation unit. It also recommended that additional training and guidance be provided to the Garda and the Director of Public Prosecutions to assist them in dealing with cyberbullying. It also dealt with the issue of revenge pornography, which as stated by other speakers has, unfortunately, come to the fore in recent times. As we know, this involves a member of the public posting explicit pictures or videos, often of a former partner, on the Internet as some form of revenge. This has resulted in private and intimate photographs being posted without the consent of others, causing extreme distress. It is interesting that the Garda Síochána has admitted that the laws around this issue are vague. This is an area in respect of which we do need to do some work and legislate. Where is the legislation to do this? I take this opportunity to put the Minister of State, Deputy Nash, on notice that Sinn Féin has prepared legislation to deal with some of these issues and will shortly publish a Bill to deal with that particular issue.

Educating children is one of the most important aspects in tackling cyberbullying. It is imperative that we teach our young people how they should act online and how they should treat others.There is no doubt that social media has been used in a very negative way. However, our role as legislators, and this is crux of my contribution, is not to suffocate social media, rather to work with the industry in an attempt to make social media as user friendly as possible. Unfortunately, bullying has occurred in schools for a long period. With the advent of social media, bullies increasingly use it as a platform to harass and inflict suffering on their victims. In compiling the Oireachtas report mentioned earlier, it was found that 17% of 12 to 18 year old students have suffered cyberbullying at least once. Clearly, guidelines in regard to cyberbullying should be given in order that schools, the Garda, sports clubs and other organisations have clear protocols to follow. Cyberbullying can happen to adults as well and all of us as politicians come in for a great deal of abuse. Instances of such abuse during the debate on the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill were given. We get large amounts of hate mail, which is the only way to describe it, in respect of many Bills. People have concerns about legislation and they express their views in a very negative way towards all of us. This falls under section 10 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997.

Social media has also played an important role in spreading new ideas and opinions, especially in countries where freedoms may be limited. We saw it during the Arab Spring of 2011 when social media was a way for many protesters to bypass the restrictions and repressive governments of those countries to get message out into the public domain.

There is problem with the language in the Bill, and I will be joining those Senators who will be opposing it, where it refers to instances causing alarm, annoyance or inconvenience. That can be very subjective and that is the problem in that context. The author of the Bill and the Government need to examine that aspect. There is no doubt that we must do a great deal more to deal with the issues of bullying and cyberbullying. I am not convinced that what is proposed in this Bill is the way to do it. I ask the Government to examine the recommendations in the Oireachtas report, which has been supported by almost of all the political parties, and proceed to address this issue on that basis. That would be a much better and more useful way of dealing with the genuine and sincere issues raised here by those supporting the Bill.