Seanad debates

Wednesday, 19 July 2017

10:30 am

Photo of Gerard CraughwellGerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the comment made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, yesterday when he called upon all Members of the Oireachtas and the wider Irish community to take care of what they say. There is an old saying that the sped arrow and the spoken word can never be retrieved. As irresponsible comments may bring embarrassment to the Oireachtas or the country, we need to be careful about what we say.

With respect to what my colleague, Senator McFadden, said about bullying, I have requested a debate in the House solely devoted to bullying. Once it moves out of the child arena into the adult arena it should be a criminal offence. Bullying isolates the individual. It is an attack on the personality, mind and thinking of the individual. It is the most horrendous thing. I suffered it once in life and I will tell the House something for nothing, four years of my life was given over to being isolated in the workforce. I will never forget it. I found the courage to take on the bully and beat him at his own game. We need to have a proper discussion here. Nobody is exempt from bullying and nobody can escape the bully. At the end of the day, even big, ugly, bald guys like me can be bullied. It is something we need to realise and we must have protections in place. It should be a criminal offence. It certainly is a personal injuries issue. If we tackle it with adults, the chances are our children will be far more careful in what they do. I attended a school some years ago where two children had taken their own lives within a short time as a result of bullying. The teachers sat in their cars at night monitoring social media in order to be aware of what was going on among the children in the school. The Leader will know, because he is a teacher, that teachers take responsibility for children from 9 a.m. until they leave the school in the evening, but society expects the school to take responsibility 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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