Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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248. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to what extent support remains readily available and accessible to young persons who are victims of bullying in the workplace or other areas outside of the education system; if young persons have sufficiently ready access to help with particular reference to cyber and text bullying; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15222/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The Action Plan On Bullying: Report of the Anti-Bullying Working Group to the Minister for Education and Skills was published in January 2013 and clearly recognised the necessity to tackle this issue in a holistic way which saw schools as pivotal, but placed the issue within a much wider social context. Cyberbullying is just one aspect of bullying, but one which, given the rapid expansion of access to technology by young people, has come much more sharply into focus. The report highlights the need for parents and young people to understand how to use modern technologies safely and to know how to protect themselves in school, at home and in their communities. There is a range of services, supported by various Departments and their agencies which can assist children and young people in coping with bullying situations.

- The parents' role is key in supporting their children who may be victims of bullying - www.webwise.ie – an initiative of the Department of Education and Skills – provides information and advice for parents and teachers about risks and how to protect children against cyber bullying.

- At community level, many of the voluntary youth services funded by my Department provide education programmes, run awareness campaigns about bullying and provide programmes for young people to give them the knowledge and skills to build supportive links and counter bullying behaviours. Specifically, my Department supports the National Youth Health Programme which is in partnership with the HSE and the National Youth Council of Ireland. The programme's aims are to provide a broad-based, flexible health promotion / education support and training service to youth organisations and to all those working with young people in out-of-school settings, and includes programmes aimed at exploring bullying and cyberbullying with young people.

- Schools are also strengthening collaboration and interaction with youth services and promote the active participation by pupils in youth focused services within their local communities.

Bullying in the workplace is a matter for the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. The Health and Safety Authority provides guidance to employers regarding the requirement for a written Anti Bullying Policy. The HSA guidance states that the policy should be drawn up in accordance with the Health and Safety Authority's Code of Practice on the Prevention and Resolution of Bullying at Work, the Labour Relations Commission's Code of Practice Detailing Procedures for Addressing Bullying in the Workplace and the Equality Authority's Codes of Practice on Prevention of Workplace Bullying and Harassment, where harassment under the nine grounds identified in the document is the issue. The guidance states that bullying should also be referred to in the safety statement as a hazard and should state the management ethos and ensure that there is a clear procedure for managing complaints and ensuring that all staff, whether permanent or temporary, should have access to a copy. Organisations should raise awareness of the issue by inclusion in staff bulletins, training, at recruitment stage and using any other appropriate method.

With regard to cyber bulling, the Office for Internet Safety, under the Department of Justice and Equality, takes a lead responsibility for internet safety in Ireland, particularly as it relates to children. As part of its work it holds an annual Safer Internet Day, which has included a rollout of a social marketing campaign specifically targeted at young people. In 2013, the then Minister of Communications established an Internet Content Governance Advisory Group to ensure our national policy represents best practice in offering the same online protections to our citizens as those available in the offline world. The Group’s report published in May 2014 made several recommendations aimed at protecting children and young people without unduly limiting their opportunities and rights online. I hope to advance these issues in conjunction with my colleagues the Minister for Justice, the Minister for Education and the Minister for Communications as part of the Programme for Government's specific commitment in relation to ensuring that robust protections are in place to fully protect children while on line.