Máirín Quill
Question:104 Miss Quill asked the Minister for Health if he will give a progress report on the implementation of the stay safe programme in national schools throughout the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Stay Safe Programme.
The child abuse prevention programme known as "Stay Safe" is currently being introduced in national schools around the country with the active support of my Department, the Department of Education and the health boards.
The implementation process in individual schools involves three stages — teacher training, parent education and classroom lessons. I understand from the organisers of the programme that 99.8 per cent of national schools in the country have availed of the offer of teacher training. Some 20,000 teachers took part in these training sessions. It is estimated that by the end of the current school year over 75 per cent of schools will have held parent education meetings. The programme has already been taught in approximately 50 per cent of schools nationwide. In the Eastern Health Board area where the programme was introduced a year earlier than in other regions, about 80 per cent of schools have used the Stay Safe lessons.
The programme has been of enormous practical benefit in teaching children coping skills in the classroom context and in increasing community awareness generally of the problem of child abuse. While there has been some opposition to the programme, both my colleague, the Minister for Education, and myself are fully supportive of the programme. We regard it as an important strategy for protecting children from all forms of abuse, including bullying by other children.