BY CATHERINE COOK

THE parents of an eight-year-old child from Raphoe who has been bullied for almost two years have been forced to take their son out of St Eunan's National School.

Eleven days ago, Michael and Martina McMonagle were left with no option other than to remove their son Matthew from the school.

For almost two years Matthew McMonagle has been bullied. His parents, however, only found out when a teacher told them he had been involved in a "few minor incidents".

Speaking to the Donegal News this week, Mr and Mrs McMonagle stated: "The minor incidents we were told about included our son being pushed to the ground, jumped upon and then having his head kicked by two other children. On other occasions his head would be banged off the schoolyard wall or he would be pushed up against a fence."

"We asked Matthew if he was being bullied but he denied that anything was wrong. It was not until February this year when his older siblings, who attend the same school, saw him crying that he finally broke down and told us he had been bullied for the past 18 months."

"He showed us bumps on his head where the school had used ice-packs on four different occasions to reduce the swelling," said Mr McMonagle.

Mrs McMonagle added: "Our son has nightmares most nights. When these happen he has to be calmed down often more than once a night. He sweats profusely and roars at the top of his voice. We originally thought it was caused by something on the television which led to a ban on weekday viewing. However, we now realise the true cause."

Earlier this week, RTÉ's Prime Time Investigates programme focused on the issue of bullying. Commenting on the programme Mrs McMonagle stated: "I watched the programme and all I could do was cry, because I know exactly what those parents are going through."

Mrs McMonagle also expressed her belief that their son is not the only child being subjected to bullying in the school.

"There is hardly a parent that you talk to that doesn't have a problem. Other parents have taken their children out of the school and sent them to other schools. We have five other children in the school and if we were to move Matthew we would have to take them all out of the school. This would not be fair on them either as they are getting on well both academically and socially. And besides, why move Matthew when he is not the problem?"

Mrs McMonagle added: "I have taken Matthew to the doctor and he said that Matthew would need counselling and would need to see a psychiatrist. No parent wants to see their eight year old son go through this. Matthew was such a happy, smiling child, but now he feels that he is the problem."

At their wits end, the McMonagle's were forced to contact Minister Mary Coughlan in March to see if she could intervene to have the bullying problem dealt with. "We understand that the Minister rang the school's Principal and for two weeks Michael came home happy every day. The school introduced measures which meant that the two bullies couldn't go near Matthew but this only lasted for a while," said Mr McMonagle.

To date, a number of letters have been sent to the school as well as to the Department of Education yet according to the McMonagles, "the school have consistently failed to take this matter seriously".

"The Principal told us that no bullying problem exists within the school," said Mr McMonagle.

In March of this year, Mrs McMonagle asked the school for a copy of their anti-bullying policy. "After great difficulty they found an out-of-date one, then she asked to see their incidents book but nothing was recorded. The Deputy Principal told Martina it was just 'boys being boisterous'," said Mr McMonagle.

He added: "It is the system that is wrong. The main bully in this school is the child who needs help. We have requested that the bullying instigator and ringleader be suspended from the school with immediate effect but our request has been turned down."

In a letter to Education Minister Bat O'Keefe, the McMonagles stated that "Matthew will not be returning to full time education at the school until we receive a favourable response from the school's management and/or your department."

It is understood that the Principal of St Eunan's National School has been on sick leave for the past month. The Deputy Principal, Mrs Harvey was contacted by the Donegal News this week and stated that she wished to make "no comment" on the matter. She added that the situation is "being dealt with within the school".

For more see the Donegal News online editions