Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of reported incidents of school bullying reported in each of the past five years to date in 2012; the extent to which physical, psychological or electronic methods were used; the degree to which early detection and responsive action will be taken to address such matters in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43376/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Individual school management authorities are not required to report incidents of bullying to my Department. Accordingly, the information requested by the Deputy is not available in my Department.

I am fully aware of the seriousness of the issue of bullying and it was for that reason that an Anti-Bullying Forum was held in May this year.

As a follow on to that Forum, I invited the stakeholders and any other interested parties 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.

I have also recently established a working group to address the issue of tackling bullying in schools. During the course of its work, the working group will be considering the outcomes from the recent Anti-Bullying Forum and the views received from interested parties in the subsequent consultation process.