Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the incidence of school bullying has decreased with the installation of CCTV cameras in a number of schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40906/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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In relation to the use of CCTV, all use of CCTV by schools must be undertaken in compliance with the requirements of the Data Protection Acts which require, inter alia, that its use must be proportionate and for a specific purpose. Extensive guidance in this regard is available from the office of the Data Protection Commissioner or on their website www.dataprotection.ie.

Under the Education Act 1998, the Board of Management has responsibility for the day-to-day management of the school. There is no requirement for school authorities to report incidents or allegations of bullying to my Department. Responsibility for tackling bullying falls to the level of the individual school, as it is at local level that an effective anti-bullying climate must be established and at that level that actions should be taken to address bullying.

Under the Education (Welfare) Act 2000, all schools are required to have in place a Code of Behaviour and this code must be drawn up in accordance with the guidelines of the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB). The NEWB guidelines were issued to schools in 2008 and make it clear that each school must have policies to prevent or address bullying and harassment and schools must make clear in their code of behaviour that bullying is unacceptable. The guidelines further state that as well as making explicit that bullying is prohibited in the school, and having an anti-bullying policy, the code of behaviour should indicate what action the school will take in relation to alleged breaches of the school's bullying policy.

Every school therefore must have in place a policy which includes specific measures to deal with bullying behaviour, within the framework of the school's overall school code of behaviour. Such a code, developed through consultation with the whole school community and properly implemented, can be the most influential measure in countering bullying behaviour in schools.

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he has a date for the publication of an updated version of Government Guidelines on Combatting Bullying 1993 which includes policy guidelines on cyber bullying; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40907/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Deputy may be aware that an Anti-Bullying Forum was held on Thursday 17th May bringing together a range of experts, support groups and representatives of the schools sector including parents and students.

I was very pleased to open this important Forum and to provide an opportunity to explore with all the relevant stakeholders how best to tackle bullying in schools and to consider what changes or updating of existing practices and procedures are required to achieve this having regard to what is feasible to implement in the current financial climate.

As a follow-on to holding the Forum itself, I invited the stakeholders and any other interested parties, including those unable to attend the event on the day, to submit their views on this important topic to my Department by 29th June 2012. As part of this consultation, interested parties were requested to indicate their views and proposals on any changes to existing practices and policies in schools that could improve how bullying can be tackled in schools.

The Deputy will be aware that I have also established a working group to address the issue of tackling bullying in schools, including homophobic bullying, cyber bullying and racist bullying. During the course of its work, the working group will be considering the outcomes from the Forum together with the submissions received, including those which expressed views or proposals on possible changes to existing practices and policies in schools.