Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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89. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the total number of incidents of school bullying, including cyberbullying, reported to his Department by the primary and-or post-primary sectors in each of the past three years and to date this year; the extent to which it has been found possible to address the issue to date; his intentions for the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16997/14]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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In January 2013, my colleague, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, and I published the Action Plan on Bullying. Since then good progress has been made on implementing actions designed to prevent and tackle bullying in schools. These actions focus on support for schools, teacher training, research and awareness raising and aim to ensure that all forms of bullying, including cyber bullying, are addressed. New National Anti-Bullying Procedures, which include a specific reference to cyberbullying, were published last September. These will be adopted and form the basis for anti-bullying policies in all schools during this school year. The new procedures are available on my Department's website www.education.ie and include reporting and oversight arrangements.

The recommended approach is for schools to aim to prevent bullying in schools and, where it does happen, to take the steps required to address the issue at local level. There is no obligation on school authorities to report incidents of bullying to my Department and my Department does not collate data on individual bullying incidents. Central to promoting safer use of the Internet by young people is a strong commitment to changing behaviour and raising the knowledge, skills and attitudes around preventing, responding to and reporting cyber bullying incidents. The continued implementation of the Action Plan on Bullying will increase capacity in these areas and build on my Department's current strategy to ensure that internet safety is mainstreamed throughout schools' teaching, learning and other practices. Resources are available on www.webwise.ie and include guidelines on developing Acceptable Use Policies.

Awareness raising initiatives on cyberbullying, including "Up2Us", a new resource to tackle cyberbullying, are provided through the internet safety initiative, Webwise. In 2013 and 2014, my Department supported Safer Internet Day, an initiative that addresses internet safety issues, including cyberbullying, for young people. Training materials for parents, teachers and Boards of Management are also being developed and rolled out.Implementation of these and the other actions identified in the Plan will continue in 2014.