€500,000 action plan to tackle bullying

A €500,000 plan of action on tackling bullying in schools will be published within weeks by Education Minister Ruairi Quinn, amid growing pressure to deal particularly with the impact of cyber-bullying.

Mr Quinn organised a forum on bullying in the summer and has received a draft action plan from officials of his own and other government departments. They have spent the last six months considering submissions by experts and interest groups, including representatives of parents, students, teachers, and school managers to the forum.

“The anti-bullying working group explored the need to update the existing 1993 guidelines to explicitly refer to homophobic bullying, cyber-bullying, and any other forms of bullying which have become more prevalent in recent years,” said a department spokeswoman.