Handbags at dawn

Mary Hanafin on Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton, fake tan and schools' rugby

It strikes me that you are someone who is uncomfortable with many aspects of modern Ireland - especially what some would see as the obsessive materialism of some young people. Are you depressed about the state of our young people?

Not in the least. The vast majority are engaging, enthusiastic and wonderfully confident.

I do have an issue with the obsession with brands and the pressure to have the Ralph Lauren or whatever, which seems to be a factor across all social groups.

There is huge peer pressure on young people to wear the Abercrombie and Fitch shirt or whatever - even if they never liked it.

The idea of a waiting list in the Louis Vuitton shop in Brown Thomas for the small bag worn by teenagers saddens me, I have to say. That is a kind of pressure that grows.

The attitude of many young people to alcohol also saddens me. I have seen girls who have spent a fortune looking absolutely amazing with their dress and their tan and their hair and the rest . . . and within a few hours they are unable to stand.

It is too easy to blame schools for these trends. What is happening to parents?

Increasingly, we have a situation where parents say they would die for their children - and they would. But the same people, some of them would give them money quicker than they would give them time and that is the problem.

I think time is a huge issue. A huge amount of our young people have TVs in their rooms, computers in their rooms and any amount of technology. What this is tending to do is to cut them off from their families.

I believe parents think they are doing the best for their child; it is not that they are saying 'we have no time for you' and cutting them off. They feel they are doing their best.

I met a parent yesterday who told me her daughter demanded a designer jumper and T-shirt, but her mother stood her ground and said you can have it over the Easter holidays - but you are going to help out around the house in return. Now she is going to get the clothes, but at least she is working towards them and earning them.

What about cyber bullying? We had the incident at Alexandra College in Dublin recently.

I have to say 100 per cent full marks to that principal. I thought she was terrific to come out and talk about it. And to be brave enough not to cover it up. It is a fee-paying school, that is seen as exclusive.

It could have been seen as damaging to her school, but, in fact, I think she deserves an awful lot of credit.

What can we do about it? The internet is international, this is the problem. The Internet Advisory Board has brought out very good guidelines. The key one for parents is - watch what your kids are doing on the net.

Something else which attracted attention was the behaviour of some students at the recent Leinster Schools' Senior Cup rugby matches. Any comment on that?

Sport should be sport and should be seen as such. There is nothing wrong with healthy competition between schools, but when it degenerates into violence and vandalism I think it is taking away from the good of the sport and it certainly does the schools no credit either. The schools in question are very conscious of it, but they also have to take action in relation to it.

I think where any school finds that that what should be healthy competition in sport develops into feuding, they have to take a very serious look at it. If it was left to me, I would take people off teams or take action against the supporters involved.