Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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164. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the present allocation for the FUSE programme; and the number of schools and teachers benefitting at present. [38583/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I launched Cineáltas: Action Plan on Bullying on 1st December 2022. Cineáltas is my Department’s whole-education approach to preventing and addressing bullying in schools.

Cineáltas is dedicated to the prevention and addressing of bullying, cyber bullying, racist bullying, gender identity bullying and sexual harassment, among other areas, in schools.

It is centred on a child right’s-based approach and provides a collective vision and clear roadmap for how the whole education community and society can work together to prevent and address bullying in our schools.

Cineáltas incorporates each of the nine components of UNESCO’s Whole Education Approach to prevent and address bullying. It is rooted in four key principles: prevention, support, oversight and community.

One of the actions under Cineáltas is to make the FUSE programme more widely available to schools. The FUSE programme is hosted by the Anti-Bullying Centre in Dublin City University.

By the end of the 23/24 school year, 384 primary schools and 551 post primary schools had registered for the programme.

At the start of the 24/25 school year, 46 primary schools and 150 post-primary schools have registered for the programme.

The FUSE programme currently has modules available from 4^th class at primary to 2^nd year at post-primary. Additional modules for 3^rd class at primary and 3^rd year at post-primary are currently being piloted and will be rolled out to all schools in January 2025.

I can confirm to the Deputy that €132,696.51 was spent by the Anti-Bullying Centre in 2023 for the provision and further development of the FUSE programme.