Bullying in school has been a factor in some suicides and even may be "the factor", a conference on bullying and suicide in schools heard yesterday.
Dr Mona O'Moore, head of the education department in Trinity College Dublin and the founder of the Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre said in some cases bullying can be the "100 per cent factor" in suicide.
She presented findings on an anti-bullying strategy conducted in primary schools in Donegal over the past three years. With teachers in 42 schools receiving special training, bullying among 800 pupils was reduced by 25 per cent and there was 21 per cent drop in victims, she told a workshop.
The Donegal model could be replicated through each of the 22 teaching centres nationwide for both primary and second-level schools, with a minimum of resources. There was no doubt bullying was associated with a severe loss of self-esteem, hopelessness, helplessness and then isolation. There was enough evidence to show that the association of bullying with suicide was real. Dr O'Moore warned that bullying in schools is on the increase.
Dr Brendan Byrne, a guidance counsellor and the author of two books on the subject, said evidence of a link between bullying and suicide was largely anecdotal. It was not possible to know "definitively" why anyone took their own life. However, he had come across at least two cases in his profession as a school counsellor where it had been "one of a number of factors".
Dr Byrne said: "The key to it all [to helping the victim] is assertiveness. This is where the guidance counsellor can be of most help. If you have reasonably high self-esteem, it is unlikely you will commit suicide."
The conference attended by 250 teachers, guidance counsellors, health board personnel and psychiatrists, was hosted by the Irish Association of Suicidology and the National Suicide Review Group.
Ms Elaine Doyle (21) told about her experience of being bullied in a school in Castlebar. The bullying began in her Leaving Certificate year, she said, and had affected her health adversely. She had been taunted after receiving 100 per cent grades in physics. Now a second-year Arts student in the National University of Ireland, Galway, she advised victims to tell someone, to speak out.