One-in-four 10-year-olds bullied once a month

A quarter of 10-year-olds in Irish schools are bullied at least once a month and non-Irish children in particular bear the brunt of the cruel treatment.

More than one in 10 of the children experience bullying on a weekly basis and the problem is particularly prevalent in disadvantaged schools.

Nonetheless, a report by the Educational Research Centre, which looked at the experiences and performance of pupils as well as the opinions of parents and teachers, found that bullying is actually less frequent in Irish classrooms than in most other countries, with two-thirds of Irish pupils almost never experiencing the problem at school. That means Ireland ranked best among our nearest comparison countries.