Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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1211. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update on the review of the Anti-Bullying Action Plan; the new measures that are being introduced to address online and in-school bullying; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43383/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Cineáltas: Action Plan on Bullying, my department’s whole education approach to preventing and addressing bullying behaviour in schools was published on 1 December 2022. An implementation plan for Cineáltas was published on 10 April 2023 and commits to implementing the 61 actions contained in Cineáltas within a five-year period (2023-2027).

An Implementation and Evaluation Group, chaired by the Secretary General of my department, has been established to oversee implementation of the actions. Implementation of the actions is well advanced.

The Cineáltas Implementation Report for 2023 was published on 2 July. Cineáltas Implementation Report. In the first year of implementation, implementation of 56 of the 61 actions commenced with five of those actions fully implemented.

The implementation report for 2024 is due to be published in the coming months.

There are a number of actions in Cineáltas that relate to the area of online safety. Under Cineáltas, my department provides funding to the Dublin City University Anti-Bullying Centre to support the delivery of their FUSE anti-bullying and online safety programme for schools.

My department is currently funding the development of additional modules of the FUSE programme. It has already been expanded to include individual modules that are suitable for 4th, 5th and 6th class at primary level, and 1st and 2nd year at post-primary level. Additional modules for 3rd class and 3rd year will be available in the coming months. During the 2024/2025 school year 968 primary and 460 post primary schools accessed the FUSE programme.

Oide, the department’s teacher support service has also developed two new online cyberbullying courses and more than 800 teachers have accessed this training.

Webwise is funded by my Department and the EU Internet Safety Initiative. It promotes the autonomous, effective and safe use of the internet by young people through a sustained information and awareness strategy targeting school leaders, teachers, parents and children themselves. It develops and disseminates resources that help teachers integrate digital citizenship and online safety into teaching and learning in their schools (mostly through delivery of the SPHE curriculum).

My department also engages with the Online Safety Commissioner, particularly with regard to the ways that social media companies can support measures to prevent and address bullying among children and young people in schools and online.

Under Cineáltas, my department established a Student Participation Unit in April 2023 and published a Student Participation Implementation Report last October. We really value the participation of children and young people into the development and implementation of our policies, curriculum and inspection processes. Currently children and young people, including those with special educational needs, are providing their views into the development of the department’s new statement of strategy, which will inform our future work.

One of the more significant actions under Cineáltas was to update the 2013 Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools. This action has been completed with the publication on 19 June 2024 of Bí Cineálta: Procedures to Prevent and Address Bullying Behaviour for Primary and Post-Primary Schools.

The procedures have been updated to take account of gender identity bullying, cyberbullying, racist bullying, sexist bullying, and sexual harassment. They support schools to develop clear strategies to prevent and address these bullying behaviours.

The Bí Cineálta procedures support a partnership approach where all members of the school community work together to prevent and address bullying behaviour. They support schools to develop clear strategies to prevent and address all bullying behaviour. The requirements of the procedures will come into effect from the beginning of the 2025/2026 school year.

Implementation of these procedures has been supported by a suite of professional learning resources, and information sessions for school staff, board of management members and parents.

In June 2023, as part of Cineáltas, my department launched a pilot programme to provide counselling supports in primary schools. It began in 670 schools right across the country and was expanded last October to include 61 additional schools focusing on communities of disadvantage.

My Inspectorate are also focusing on the wellbeing of our young people at school. To this end, they have developed a new inspection model entitled ‘Promotion of Wellbeing in Schools’, which inspectors have been examining in schools since 2025.

Under the Neart programme, which was launched in April 2025, my department provides learning opportunities that promote post-primary students’ mental health and wellbeing as well as mental health webinars and e-Learning courses for parents and school staff.