This public event is being hosted by Sean Kelly, Ireland South MEP, in Nemo Rangers,GAA club, Cork, Friday, 18 January (9:00am) and is especially focused at helping parents, teachers, youth groups and community youth workers, to better understand and hopefully help start to combat the increasing problem of Cyber Bullying. The format of the event will involve presentations from the key speakers, and then an interactive Question & Answer’s session, so that the public will have the opportunity to ask questions from experts in the areas of; Child Protection Legislation, Social Media – Facebook, Mental health psychologists and also EU Data Protection regulation. Commenting on this Cyber Bullying forum, Event organiser and host, Mr Sean Kelly, MEP said: “The recent teenage suicide’s in this country as a result of Cyber Bulling, have affected every family in the country, with parents, teachers and community youth workers, desperate to stay updated about Social Media and also concerned about how to combat abusive Smartphone images & aggressive (taunting) online behaviour. This event will focus the problem of Cyber-Bullying in both an Irish and also a European context, so that European policy makers attending, can learn from the concerns of the public, at this community event.” The panellist’s include: Patricia Cartes, Facebook’s head of Safety & Public Policy, who will discuss Facebook’s Community Standards, Safety philosophy and also reporting content to Facebook. Anthony Whelan, European Commission, Head of Cabinet, for Commissioner Neelie Kroes Digital Agenda. Mr Whelan will be discussing the European Commission’s mission to combat Cyber Bullying, in the context of the EU’s digital agenda. Dr. Aisling Parkes will address the issue of Cyber Bullying from a children’s Rights Perspective and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, including the right to be protected from harm. Psychologists’ Dr. Sinead McGilloway and Padraig Cotter will discuss their recently published, high profile, research study on Cyberbullying, in the Irish Journal of Education, but also providing more up-to-date figures on the nature and prevalence of cyberbullying throughout the world, and recommendations from the international literature on prevention and management. This report was the first undertaken in Ireland, at the time of the study, and also one of the few in Europe, to assess the nature and extent of cyberbullying / e-bullying, in a sample of Irish schoolchildren aged 12-18 years. The event moderator in Nemo Rangers next Friday, is Dylan Collins, who is well know in the Gaming and Technology sectors, having held founding or leadership roles in the following gaming companies; Jolt Online, DemonWare, Phorest and is chairman of Treemetrics in Cork. Dylan, is a frequent commentator in the youth Technology space, in the UK & US and will therefore provide the benefit of global insight into how Cyber Bullying is being combated around the world. Those interested in attending should register at: seankellymep@gmail.com Cyber Bullying Awareness Event, Nemo Rangers GAA Club, Douglas, Cork – Friday 18 January, Registration 9:00am, presentations begin 9:30am.
14th January, 2013