Schoolyard violence - We need to reconsider our values

IMAGINE you were at home or at work on an ordinary sort of spring day and you were called to your daughter’s school to bring her home.

In reality you were called to rescue her and offer her comfort and refuge because she had been tied up, gagged and an attempt had been made to strip her of her clothes by a group of her classmates.

Boys of just 15 have brought totally unacceptable, horror-movie behaviour to a school in Mountbellew, Co Galway. None of the reports of the event give even the slightest hint that it was forgivable horseplay that just got out of hand. They indicate that the attack was sinister from the moment it began.