Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Today is International Children's Day and it acts as yet another timely reminder of the importance of looking after our young people as we know they are the future of our country.Unfortunately the children of 2018 face many more challenges than we faced in our daily lives when we were that age. I welcome the new anti-bullying programme that was launched today in four schools in County Monaghan and four schools in County Louth. The programme was drafted and drawn up in Finland and is an internationally-recognised early intervention anti-bullying programme that is being rolled out in many parts of Europe at present. I acknowledge the great work being done by many teachers the length and breadth of this country in respect of bullying in schools and I hope this initiative will help them in their good work.

There was a survey done recently on the 1,600 students who attend the eight schools in question. It found that 23% of the student population was being bullied two to three times a month and sometimes even more. That is a very worrying trend. Years ago, bullying was confined to the schoolyard but unfortunately today we live in the world of cyber-bullying and we have to be very cognisant of that. I sincerely hope this new initiative will instil a greater sense of awareness among the pupils and help stamp out the curse of bullying. I ask the Leader to impress upon the Minister for Education and Skills the importance of rolling this initiative out in primary schools countrywide as soon as possible. Unfortunately only eight schools are being looked after this year. Bullying is a serious problem affecting our children, sometimes with serious consequences.