BLOCKING ACCESS to a website at the centre of controversy following the deaths of two teenage girls will not end cyberbullying and could lead to similar sites being accessed instead, Ombudsman for Children Emily Logan has warned.
Ms Logan made her comments in Limerick yesterday at the launch of a report undertaken by her office on bullying in schools.
Some 300 children aged from 10 to 17 from across the State took part in the report, Dealing with Bullying in Schools: A Consultation with Children and Young People. The ombudsman is calling on the Government to ensure bullying is addressed as a public health issue rather than one confined to the sphere of education.
According to Ms Logan, cyberbullying and homophobic bullying were two of the most prevalent forms of bullying raised by those who took part in the report.
When asked if Irish children's access to ask.fm, the website at the centre of controversy after two teenage girls took their own lives amid claims they were being bullied online, should be blocked, Ms Logan replied: "I don't think blocking one website is going to stop the issue. If anything it would possibly generate even more websites if it creates the amount of attention that it's getting, and rightfully so in terms of the association with cyberbullying."
It is estimated that more than 10,000 Irish schoolchildren find it difficult to go to school every day as a result of being bullied and at least 24 per cent of primary-school students and 14 per cent of post-primary school students have experienced bullying.
On average more than 40 per cent of complaints made by parents to the Ombudsman for Children’s cffice relate to education, and bullying is among the five issues most frequently raised.
“Two things came up very strongly from this report from children,” said Ms Logan. “One is homophobic bullying, because it’s difficult to deal with; the other is cyberbullying, because of the nature of cyberbullying, because it’s hidden, because it’s pervasive in children’s lives. It doesn’t finish at the school door, it follows children home, which is why it is much more intense and much more upsetting.”
The issue of cyberbullying has made headlines in recent months following the deaths of Ciara Pugsley (15) in Co Leitrim in September and Erin Gallagher (13) in Co Donegal last weekend.
“Sometimes, unfortunately, it takes the kind of trauma that we have seen over the last few weeks for us to react in terms of a public reaction to something as serious as this,” Ms Logan said.
"If ask.fmis blocked in Ireland then another website will develop and that's part of the problem, it's not quite as simple as blocking a website. This is a complex issue that requires a broader response than simply blocking ask.fm. It's everything from teaching parents to have reasonable oversight of their children's online activity to educating children." According to Ms Logan, girls were much more likely to be victims of cyberbullying than boys, because boys were more involved in physical bullying.