The ‘Growing Up in Ireland’ Longitudinal Study, which looked at the child cohort at age nine, revealed that forty per cent of this age group reported being victims of bullying in the previous year. The data found that only twenty-three per cent of the mothers of the nine year-olds reported that their children had been victimised in the previous year and, of the children who had reported being bullied, only thirty-nine per cent of the mothers were aware that this had been the case. This indicates a lack of awareness on many parents' part that bullying is happening to their children. A national consultation with 66,700 children and young people, conducted by my Department in 2011, found bullying and peer pressure to be in the top eight things identified as "not good" by children and young people aged from 7 to 18 years.
Actions are being taken across Government to make positive protective interventions to combat bullying in all of its forms. Strengthening the collaboration and interaction between schools and youth services, which promote active participation by young people within their local communities, is an important element in countering bullying. In partnership with the HSE and National Youth Council of Ireland, my Department supports the National Youth Health Programme which provides a broad-based health promotion and education, support and training service to youth organisations and out-of-school settings.
The Anti-Bullying Working Group established by the Minister for Education and Skills, which produced the ‘Action Plan on Bullying’ in January 2013, recognised the need to tackle bullying in a holistic way, through schools but setting the issue in a wider social context. The Plan recommended the establishment of a national anti-bullying website to provide information to parents, young people, and people working with young people, on the types and methods of bullying and how to deal with this behaviour. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender young people, and those perceived as belonging to such a group, can be particular targets of bullying. This problem is being addressed through work with schools and youth groups led by BelongTo, an organisation which advocates for LGBT youth and works in both schools and the wider community and is part-funded by my Department. BelongTo recently launched the latest in what has been a series of awareness campaigns under the "Stand Up" banner, campaigns which have been recognised internationally as examples of good practice.
Internet bullying is also being addressed through initiatives promoted by the Department of Education and Skills such as Safer Internet Day, the Safer Internet Ireland Project and Webwise.ie. These initiatives aim to inform and educate parents and young people on safe internet use and advise people about what to do should they have concerns.
The issue of bullying is one which has far-reaching and dangerous consequences. Efforts to stem the growth in bullying must be concerted and must do everything they can to keep pace with the rapid changes in the ways in which our children and young people communicate with each other, and engage with the wider world.
