A DAIL committee has said that cyberbullying and suicide are not always linked and should be treated as separate issues.
The politicians also said new laws are not needed to deal with cyberbullying.
The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communication publishes its report today.
It followed the deaths of Erin Gallagher in Ballybofey last autumn and Leitrim teenager Ciara Pugsley.
Erin, who was just 13, and Ciara, who was 15, had been the victims f alleged bullying campaigns on the ask.fm site.
The report states: “While the committee is aware of cases where victims of cyberbullying have taken their own lives, it is worth noting North American research which found that cyberbullying is rarely the sole or main cause of death by suicide.”
The committee’s refusal to bring in new laws is the opposite of the view expressed by the Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, Geoffrey Shannon, who said online bullying should be made a special criminal offence.
The committee wants the issue dealt with outside the courts system – and perhaps in schools.
“Some cases may be best dealt with within schools, as is increasingly done in the USA where cyberbullying (even if it occurs outside school time) is seen as disruptive to the learning environment,” says the report.
“Where cases arise which need a stronger response, the committee is satisfied that there is already legislation in place to deal with cyberbullying though identification and follow-through of cyberbullying remains a problem.”
Eight recommendations in the report also include one that social media companies must be swift in closing down social media accounts set up by children in contravention of the companies’ age restrictions.
Children are supposed to aged 14 or over to have a Facebook account whilst the reality here in Donegal is that majority of children aged 10 have a Facebook account.