Bullying immigrant children: Unacceptable

Last week’s 2018 World Happiness Report was a paean to Nordic societies — Finland was deemed the happiest country in the world, closely followed by Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden.

Ireland was in a credible 14th position — a far better position than the US as the world’s largest economy grapples with a crisis of obesity, substance abuse, and depression.

For the first time, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network considered the happiness of immigrants, and found Finland also scored highest on this matrix.

An OECD report suggests we have work to do, especially around protecting immigrant children from bullying in schools, if we are to improve our ranking.

This should not be difficult as bullying of any child, be they a native or one of the new Irish, is unacceptable — especially if a teacher is the source of that bullying.

Sadly, our history shows where ignoring this problem can lead so inaction is not an option.