Department and Facebook agree anti-bullying channel

The Department of Education and social media website Facebook have agreed to the establishment of a channel to allow school leaders to contact Facebook regarding cyber bullying on the site.

The two sides had what the department described as a “positive and constructive” meeting yesterday to discuss the increasing problem of cyber bullying using websites such as Facebook.

Afterwards, the department issued a statement in which it said: “Agreement was reached on a way forward to involve Facebook, the department, second- level school management and leadership bodies, including the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD), to work together to tackle bullying in Irish schools and to provide an effective channel for school leaders to escalate concerns when required. Minister [Ruairi] Quinn is pleased with the meeting’s outcome.”