This article is from page 21 of the 2013-11-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 21 JPG
A CLARE senator has suggested a register of SIM cardholders should be established to help prevent cyberbullying.
Fine Gael senator Martin Conway’s comments came at a public meeting in Ennis on Friday that heard schools in Clare are struggling to deal with the spread of bullying through social networking sites such as Facebook and Ask.fm.
Jim Harding, director of the antibullying service, Bully 4 U, told the meeting a recent survey carried out by the service found that 85 per cent of respondents using Facebook are under 13.
He said all the complaints received by his company “are directed towards Facebook.
“Primary school teachers are dealing with Facebook issues on a daily basis. They are tearing their hair out,” added Mr Harding.
He also warned that new forms of social media such as Snapchat are being used to bully. He said vulnerable teenagers are receiving threatening images of ropes and knives.
He said there is a growing concern that online Chat Roulette rooms are being used by pedophiles to make contact with primary school children.
“These are mainly middle aged, naked men who are encouraging them [children] to take their clothes off so they can video and record them,” he explained.
“Mobile phones are the cause of most [online] bullying, the vast amount,” added Mr Harding. Senator Martin Conway told the meeting that the sale of SIM cards – a form of data storage for mobile devices – should be subject to tighter control. “Nobody should be able to walk into a shop and buy a SIM card for a tenner. You should have to produce your passport and there should be a register,” he explained. Dr Patricia Mannix McNamara of the University of Limerick’s Depart- ment of Education and Professional Studies, told the meeting cyber bullying is a major issue in Irish schools. “Schools are in crisis and they are struggling,” she said. Dr Mannix McNamara explained the relationships that foster cyber bullying are often happening in the schools. “Our schools are in crisis. We need our guidance counsellors to be talking to our children but we have so few guidance counsellors,” she said. Researcher Sharon Moynihan said a recent study of children in four counties found that 36 per cent of students admitted to posting hurtful comments or images on social networking sites. Ireland South MEP Sean Kelly hosted the a Cyber-Bullying Forum in the Temple Gate Hotel, in order to raise awareness and inspire action to prevent online bullying. “Cyber bullying, or bullying by social media, is a problem of epidemic proportions affecting mostly young people. It is a very serious challenge for parents, teachers, mental health and youth/community workers. It has fuelled a national and Europewide debate on how to best to tackle the issue,” he said.