Written answers

Thursday, 22 March 2012

5:00 pm

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 24: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the extent to which she has had an opportunity to study the degree to which children and teenagers are bullied by their peers or others on an on-going basis; the extent to which this happens through the internet or mobile phones, social networks or otherwise; the extent to which she can put in place procedures to alert parents, guardians or school authorities with particular reference to social media; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15199/12]

Photo of Frances FitzgeraldFrances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I am aware that children and teenagers are susceptible to bullying which can emanate from a variety of sources. An unacceptably high proportion of children have been the subject of some form of bullying, and we know that there have in some cases been tragic consequences.

According to the 2008 survey "Growing Up In Ireland" the most common form of bullying identified by children who were victims was verbal bullying, followed by exclusion and physical bullying. Bullying by written messages and electronic means was less prominent at the time, but we are all aware that our children are very susceptible to the use of electronic media for bullying purposes, as use of this media, particularly for social networking, continues to grow.

The Office for Internet Safety was established by the Government to take a lead responsibility for internet safety in Ireland, particularly as it relates to children. It was instrumental in publishing 'A Guide to Cyber Bullying' at the end of 2008. The Office advises never to have a personal conversation with a stranger, whether it's by email, a chatroom, a social networking website or instant messenger. The National Centre for Technology in Education (NCTE) developed the website 'www.webwise.ie' http://www.webwise.ie/which provides information and resources to teachers, parents and students to help ensure that children's online experiences are positive and safe.

This year's Safer Internet Day took place in February. It is organised by the European Internet Safety Network, with the aim of promoting safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially amongst children and young people across the world.

The ISPCC urges parents of children who spend a lot of unsupervised time on the internet to become better informed about online safety and to communicate with their children around the rules and boundaries of internet usage. It is worrying that many secondary aged children do not use any privacy settings on their social network profile; clearly indicating that many young people are not taking necessary and available steps to ensure their information is kept private. Internet usage, also possible now on many portable devices, is set to become even more popular, so vigilance is required. In order to combat bullying simple steps can be taken such as saving the evidence, telling a parent, and crucially not responding to the bullying behaviour.

In relation to bullying in schools the Department of Education and Skills deals with regulations and guidelines on this issue. It is my understanding that the individual Board of Management of the school is the body responsible for the governance of the school, including responsibility for implementing effective policies to counter bullying. Any complaint of bullying should in the first instance be made to the Chairperson of the Board of Management. The Department of Education and Skills may subsequently become involved should it be necessary to review the handling of the complaint by the Board of Management.

My Department provided funding in 2010 towards "Addressing Homophobia - Guidelines for the Youth Sector In Ireland", developed by the BeLonG To Youth Services. This is an important resource to help raise awareness of homophobia and to support the youth sector in preventing and addressing homophobic bullying.

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