Two initiatives to tackle cyberbullying launched by Minister for education RuairíQuinn and Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan

Teen-led campaign Watch Your Space and the Garda programme Connect with Respect were launched by Minister Ruairí Quinn and Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan this morning.
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LAUNCHING TWO INITIATIVES aimed at tackling cyberbullying today, Education Minister Ruairí Quinn noted that new technologies bring with them both opportunities and dangers.

“The opportunities should be celebrated and the dangers should be put out there,” he told reporters.

The projects being launched, including the Watch your Space public awareness cyber-bullying campaign and the Garda Primary Schools Programme module Connect with Respect, have been in the pipeline for some time but “some of it is reacting to tragedies and fatalities in various parts of the country”.

“The level of awareness now of the phenomenon of bullying, of the incidence of bullying, of the 24/7 dimension it has now taken on, is much higher than ever before.”Minister

Quinn also mentioned the increased awareness and new guidelines around homophobic bullying.

Commissioner Martin Callinan said the Gardaí wanted to get involved with the campaign, launched to coincide with Safer Internet Day, to create a safer space for students.

“Children and young people are some of our most valuable commodities. We must ensure that as a community-based police force, we serve all strata of society. Children and young people are extremely vulnerable and it is important we keep them at the centre of everything we do.”

 

The Watch Your Space anti cyber-bullying campaign includes online content, school-based events and media elements. Its website has information and advice for secondary school students on coping with online situations and facilitating positive intervention by witnesses.

The newly-introduced primary school module, to be given by Gardaí, hopes to change the attitude of bystanders online. They want to make them more likely to intervene positively and effectively in online bullying situations.

It also aims to help students to understand the impact that cyber bullying can have on different people, and to recognise that it is not acceptable.

A recent study showed the most commonly reported form of cyber bullying is being the target of nasty or hurtful messages.

 

This year there is a budget of €500,000 to implement the Government’s Action Plan on Bullying.

The recent suicides of a number of teenage girls has sparked concern from parents and the wider community about the dangers of the Internet, specifically social websites popular with teens, including ask.fm.

 

A study, conducted by Dr Brian O’Neill and Thuy Dinh from EU Kids Online and DIT and published today, found almost seven in 10 parents were unaware that their child had been bullied online.

The report also found:

• More than half of children bullied online said they were ‘upset’ or ‘fairly upset’ by it
• Online bullying had a lasting effect on 44 per cent of bullied children
• 14 per cent said they were ‘deeply affected’ for a couple of months or more – a stat much higher than the European average of 2 per cent
• A quarter of nine to 16 year olds have been bullied – either online or offline
• 28 per cent of victims tried to fix the problem themselves.
• 25 per cent of victims hoped the problem would just go away
• The most technical response to cyber bullying is to block the person
• Only 15 per cent reported the bullying using an online reporting tool
• Only 29 per cent of parents of bullied children were aware of the bullying
• Almost three-quarters of young people who have been bullied talk to someone about it – usually a parent or friend but rarely (6 per cent) a teacher