Irish kids ‘bullied less than most others’

Irish children are bullied less than most others around the world, despite at least one in the average class being victimised every week.

The findings emerge from an international study that shows just under three quarters of fourth-class pupils here were almost never bullied. They did not experience four out of eight bullying behaviours asked about, and suffered from the others just a few times a year.

However, 5% of Irish children were bullied weekly, meaning they were victims of half the kind of behaviours mentioned once or twice a month, and the rest a few times a year.