Tag Archives: bullying

ACTION on bullying in schools is to be reviewed and updated to take account of cyberbullying, Clare’s Fianna Fáil TD has been told. In response to a parliamentary question from Deputy Cathal Crowe, the Minister for Children outlined a number of responses being undertaken to make the online sphere safer, including a review of school policies that date back to 2013. Responding to Deputy Crowe’s question, Minister Roderic O’Gorman said the Department of Education is soon to update its interventions in relation to bullying. He noted that Minister Norma Foley’s Department has already published a strategy document for schools.  “My colleague the Minister for Education has also brought forward significant policy initiatives in this area this year including the publication of the new Digital Strategy for Schools in April, which focusses on further embedding the use of digital technologies in all teaching, learning and assessment activities and includes building awareness and knowledge around online safety,” Minister O’Gorman said. “The Department …

CRUEL, sickening homophobic violence overshadowed Garrii Bailey’s teenage years in Shannon, but now he is bringing his drag act back to his hometown in November. In the aftermath of last year’s same-sex marriage referendum it is easy to forget how deeply ingrained homophobia was, to the point that violence and verbal abuse aimed at gay people was relatively commonplace, something which often went unremarked upon. But Garrii’s stories of growing up in Shannon during the 1990s shine a light on just how intolerant things were in the quite recent past. “I’m kind of open about speaking about it now because I feel like I’ve got respect for being who I want to be and I feel like I can talk about it. We had our house bricked, egged; my mum’s car got thrashed. I used to have to walk down a boreen to get home and I’d be petrified. I even walked through it the other day and I was …

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr James Reilly has launched two new resources to help support young people affected by bullying. Tackle Bullying (www.tacklebullying.ie), an online resource for young people affected by bullying, was developed at the National Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre (ABC) at Dublin City University and funded by National Lottery Funds. The centtre was established in 1996 by Professor Mona O’Moore and is led by Dr James O’Higgins Norman. It is the first forum of its kind and encourages teenagers to share their experiences with their peers or offer support to others. While the forum will encourage peer-to-peer conversation, all posts will be monitored by professionals and an option to contact one of the moderators directly will be available to those feeling very unhappy or have a serious issue they’d like to discuss. The website will also contain some useful information on the subject such as tips on staying cyber-safe and newspaper articles which might be …