Dr. Mairéad Foody:

Sure. Maybe the professor asked me to speak because I am one of the principal investigators on a project we ran recently. It has just completed at the anti-bullying centre. We looked at the experience of bullying among the Roma community in Ireland. There are many other examples where identity or culture might influence a child's likelihood of being a victim of bullying. The research we conducted, and our findings from that research, actually show it is not that straightforward. There are a lot of different things we need to consider, especially if we think about ethnic minority groups like the Roma or members of the Traveller community in Ireland. Classroom composition is important. How many other members of the Traveller community are in a child's class might also affect whether or not he or she is a victim. Social networks, having good leadership in the school and all those things influence it so we cannot really say that if a child is a member of one community he or she is more likely to be bullied. It is not so straightforward. What we can tell, and what the research is very clear on, is respect for diversity decreases bullying. If there is a school culture that is positive and that promotes, acknowledges and encourages diversity and difference then there will be less bullying. That is probably a better way to look at it than to think about who is highest risk and who is going to be a victim. It is more like asking how we can prevent everyone from being a victim of bullying.

Somebody else may want to jump in on the other questions.