Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 10 March 2022
271. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Education her Department’s supports to help combat online bullying and harassment of children and young persons; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13492/22]
View answerThe Action Plan on Bullying, which was published in January 2013, sets out my Department's approach to tackling bullying and promoting an anti-bullying culture in schools. The Action Plan contains 12 actions that focus on the provision of support for schools, teacher training, research and awareness raising and aims to ensure that all forms of bullying are addressed. A number of these actions have been implemented in full while others, which by their nature involve continuous action, are the subject of ongoing implementation.
There are currently extensive training and curricular supports, including through the Social Personal Health Education (SPHE) curriculum, the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST) and the Webwise Programme, to assist schools in the development of policies and practices on the safe use of the internet and on the prevention of bullying including cyber-bullying.
The PDST and its Webwise team have developed dedicated resources for teachers, parents, children and young people which gives practical information and advice on the safe, ethical and responsible use of the internet and addresses key issues such as cyberbullying, sexting, image sharing, respectful communication, social media, popular apps and more. The Webwise resources are available at www.webwise.ie.
The Digital Strategy for Schools 2015-2020 has promoted the development of digital literacy in our young people and the importance of respectful online communications. A new digital strategy is under development with planned publication later this year. Online safety will be an important feature of the new strategy.
In 2021, on Safer Internet Day, the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020 (Coco’s Law) was enacted. On that day, the Minister for Justice announced that an agreement had been reached between her Department, the National anti-bullying centre at DCU and my Department, to establish a ‘Research Observatory on Cyberbullying’ focused on providing up-to-date research, advice and resources related to cyberbullying, cyberhate, and online harassment, and the implementation of Coco’s Law.
The Observatory team has put together an online research repository of resources on cyberbullying, cyberhate and online harassment which are available on their website for researchers and the general public. The Observatory has hosted online webinars, one of which focused on cyberbullying and which involved national and International experts sharing their knowledge on cyberbullying and online abuse with researchers and with the broader general public, including teachers, parents, and young people.
My Department also provides direct funding to external organisations to raise awareness of safer internet use and for the delivery of support and information through various anti-bullying initiatives. This includes the provision of an annual grant to the National Parents Council (Primary) for anti-bullying training and information for parents. My Department also provides funding for Stand Up! Awareness Week , an anti-homophobic and anti-transphobic bullying campaign, organised by BeLonGTo, the National Youth Service for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender young people in Ireland.
An annual grant is also provided by my Department to the National Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre in DCU towards funding its research and training programmes and to meet the running and development costs of the national anti-bullying website, www.tacklebullying.ie. This website provides a single point of information on the types of bullying as well as supports and information on how to deal with bullying for young people, parents and teachers.
As the Deputy may be aware, I recently established a Steering Committee to review the 2013 Action Plan on Bullying.
This review will involve significant consultation and collaboration across my Department, with other Government Departments and Bodies including the Ombudsman for Children, and will also involve consultation with a broad range of education stakeholders, including parents and students, school management bodies and teacher and school staff unions.
The review will take account of the significant developments and relevant research since the action plan was published in 2013. It will specifically consider cyber bullying, gender identity bullying and sexual harassment, among other areas.
The review will also give detailed consideration to the recommendations contained in the Oireachtas Joint Committee Report on School Bullying and the Impact on Mental Health which was published last August.
