Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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890. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the degree to which her Department continues to monitor incidents of psychological intimidation of minors by way of electronic means or otherwise; the action taken or to be taken to address this issue; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24045/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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"Psychological intimidation" is a term that would need to be clearly defined for the purpose of understanding its effect on young people.

Under Growing Up in Ireland, the National Longitudinal Study of children's lives, my Department collects information about the extent of bullying reported by children and their parents. Based on the responses of mothers for the 9-year-old cohort, 24% of children had been victims of bullying in the previous year, but 40% of children themselves reported that they had been bullied. The difference between the two figures may reflect under-reporting of incidents by children to their parents, or a differing perspective of what constitutes bullying.

The Deputy will be aware that there is an Action Plan on Bullying published by the Minister for Education and Skills which recognises the need to tackle bullying - and cyberbullying as one aspect of it - in a wide social context.

In relation to cyberbullying, the Office of Internet Safety, under the Department of Justice and Equality, takes lead responsibility for internet safety in Ireland, particularly as it relates to children.

The most important step in addressing bullying, including cyberbullying, is for parents to talk to children about their experiences. The Action Plan published by the Minister for Education and Skills sets out twelve actions to help prevent and tackle all forms of bullying in school. The actions focus on support, teacher training, research and awareness training.