Bí Cineálta: What the Procedures Mean for Irish Schools and Boards

Bí Cineálta is the Department of Education and Youth’s framework for preventing and addressing bullying behaviour, published on 19 June 2024. It replaced the 2013 anti-bullying procedures from the 2025/26 school year. Every school must implement a Bí Cineálta policy, a student-friendly version, reporting arrangements and board oversight.

What Bí Cineálta is and what it replaced

Bí Cineálta means “be kind”. For schools, it is a whole-school approach to preventing and addressing bullying behaviour, supported by a policy, practical responses and board oversight. It is more than a new name on an existing anti-bullying document. The procedures connect school culture, curriculum, relationships and community participation with how individual incidents are addressed and reviewed.

The Department of Education and Youth published the procedures on 19 June 2024. Circular 0055/2024, sections 2.3–2.6, confirms implementation from the start of the 2025/2026 school year and formal adoption before that school year began. Its section 3 summarises the changes from the 2013 procedures.

This guide explains the overall system. For the separate annual-review task, use the Bí Cineálta annual review checklist. Keeping the overview and review separate helps the board distinguish a policy that exists from a policy that is being used and evaluated.

For a board reviewing readiness in 2026, the useful question is whether the adopted policy describes what actually happens in the school. Check the named responsibilities, student participation, recording arrangements and the information reaching the board. If practice has changed since adoption, identify the policy or staff-awareness work needed to bring the two together.

Key definitions: recognise bullying without overlooking other harm

Section 2.1 of the Bí Cineálta procedures describes bullying through three connected elements: targeted behaviour that causes harm, repetition over time and an imbalance of power between those involved. Harm can be physical, social or emotional. Power can arise through circumstances such as age, strength, social standing, group membership or online anonymity.

A disagreement between students with comparable power is not automatically bullying. Nor is every isolated hurtful incident bullying under the definition. Those behaviours still need an appropriate school response. Staff should use the relevant procedures and code of behaviour rather than treating “not bullying” as “nothing to address”.

The online context needs particular care. Section 2.1 explains how a single online post can be repeated through sharing or viewing, so an incident need not involve several separate posts by the original author to satisfy the repetition element. Sections 2.5–2.7 discuss forms and types of bullying behaviour, including online and identity-related behaviour.

The board does not make individual classroom findings. Its oversight question is whether staff understand the definition and apply the agreed response consistently. Training discussions can use anonymised examples to test understanding. An example should explore the behaviour, its impact and the power relationship, without labelling a child or disclosing a live case.

Child protection remains a separate reporting responsibility. Section 2.3 addresses when bullying behaviour becomes a child protection concern. Where that arises, staff follow the applicable child protection procedures; addressing bullying cannot substitute for reporting a protection concern.

What each school must have in place

Chapter 4 requires a school Bí Cineálta policy and a student-friendly version. The school policy should be developed with the whole school community. Circular 0055/2024, section 3.2(b), confirms the collaboration requirement, involving the board, staff, students and parents. Consultation should therefore be a genuine opportunity to shape prevention and reporting arrangements.

Section 4.1 sets out the content of the policy. It includes the definition, the school’s prevention strategies, arrangements for addressing bullying and the process for oversight and review. Appendix A is the required basis for the school policy. Schools need to adapt it to their circumstances rather than leave generic examples standing in for local arrangements.

Section 4.1 says the policy’s content should be communicated to the school community and patron and published on the school website. Appendix A also provides for availability to the school community online and in hard copy on request. A practical publication check should open the actual link, establish that the approved version is displayed and remove older competing copies.

Section 4.2 requires an easy-to-understand student-friendly policy. Appendix B can be used as its basis; it is not a substitute for developing the school’s own accessible version. Display it where students and parents can see it, explain how to seek help, and consider whether younger students or students with additional communication needs can understand it.

Keep consultation notes, the board’s adoption minute and the publication evidence together. These are useful governance records, but their value depends on implementation. A beautifully organised folder does not establish that a student knows how to report a concern or that staff know who will respond.

Preventing bullying behaviour

Chapter 5 identifies four connected areas: culture and environment, curriculum, policy and planning, and relationships and partnerships. The board can ask school leaders to explain how each is reflected in day-to-day school life. Prevention should be visible across ordinary routines, rather than confined to one themed week.

Culture and environment include whether students feel safe seeking help and whether adults respond consistently. Schools can consider supervision arrangements, areas where students feel vulnerable, inclusive language and the physical and online spaces in which relationships develop. Student feedback is useful when selecting priorities; a general statement that the school is welcoming does not identify where improvement is needed.

Curriculum provides opportunities to develop empathy, respectful relationships and understanding of online behaviour. The school should connect its prevention approach with appropriate curricular work. A board’s role is to seek assurance that this is planned and supported, while leaving teaching decisions to school leaders and teachers.

Policy and planning connect prevention with the code of behaviour, wellbeing, online safety and other relevant school arrangements. Relationships and partnerships include engaging parents, students and staff in recognising concerns and supporting appropriate responses. Parents should know the school’s reporting route and the difference between a concern, a response discussion and a formal complaint.

Choose manageable improvement actions. For example, the school might clarify the reporting route, revisit supervision in a particular area or improve how younger students understand the student-friendly policy. Agree who will lead the action and when the board will hear whether it has been implemented. These are practical governance choices, not additional deadlines imposed by the procedures.

Addressing bullying behaviour: response and follow-up

Chapter 6 sets out the response process. Section 6.1 focuses on establishing whether the behaviour meets the definition. Teachers consider what happened, where and when it happened, why it may have happened and the accounts of those involved. The response should be fair, sensitive and informed by the students’ circumstances.

Section 6.2 emphasises a consistent approach that seeks to stop the behaviour and support those affected. Staff should listen to the students involved and engage their parents. The aim is to address the behaviour and its impact, rather than start from a predetermined sanction or assume every incident requires the same intervention.

Parents are involved early. Section 6.3 covers engagement with parents and discussing the actions being taken. Record the views of students and parents, the agreed response and the date of initial engagement. Where a parent requests that no action be taken, follow the specific provisions of the procedures; a request does not remove the school’s responsibility to respond appropriately.

Section 6.4 requires follow-up with the students and parents no more than 20 school days after the initial engagement. Consider whether the behaviour has stopped, whether the concerns have been resolved and whether relationships have been restored as far as practicable. Stopping the behaviour and repairing its effects are related but distinct questions.

If the behaviour continues, review the strategies with students and parents and agree further follow-up. The procedures describe when the school should consider the code of behaviour. The board should not turn that into an automatic sanction triggered by a fixed number of incidents.

Section 6.5 covers records: the form and type of behaviour where known, location and dates, engagements, student and parent views, actions, follow-up and any external support. Keep case records securely under the school’s record-keeping and data-protection arrangements. Section 6.6 directs dissatisfied parents to the school’s complaints procedure. Board-level trend discussion should protect the confidentiality of the students involved.

The board of management’s role and annual review

The principal provides a bullying behaviour update at each ordinary board meeting under section 7.1. This gives the board an opportunity to assess whether the policy is working. The update is anonymised and should support discussion of prevention, the effectiveness of responses and any improvement needed; it is not an invitation to disclose individual student details.

The board should distinguish receiving information from agreeing action. If an update identifies a repeated pattern, ask what has been learned and what school-level response is proposed. Record the oversight discussion and agreed actions without inserting identifying case information into ordinary minutes. Appendix D supports preparation of the principal’s update.

Section 7.2 requires review of the policy each calendar year, or sooner where the board determines a review is warranted. Review includes input from the school community. Appendix E must be completed, and the community must be told that the review has occurred. Appendix F can support the notification, which should be published on the website.

The same section requires review of the measures taken where bullying has had a serious adverse impact on a student, to identify lessons and prevent a similar situation. That may require a policy update. The annual cycle therefore does not justify postponing a review that is needed sooner.

Use a short action record after review: improvement, owner, intended completion and follow-up meeting. The Bí Cineálta annual review checklist helps organise that evidence. Keep the current Department templates under review too: section 7.4 requires the latest published versions where templates are mandatory.

Common gaps to check after the first implementation year

The following are practical checks, not claims about the prevalence of problems across Irish schools. A board can use them to test its own readiness and avoid treating adoption as the end of the work.

One possible gap is an approved policy with an older version still on the website. Another is a student-friendly poster that does not explain the school’s actual help route. Check both with a fresh reader who was not involved in drafting them.

Other questions concern practice: do new staff understand the response arrangements, are engagements and follow-up dates recorded, and can the principal show how the ordinary board update informs prevention? Review records should show community input and outcomes, rather than a date alone.

If a gap is found, assign a proportionate correction. Keep individual case response moving while the governance improvement is addressed. Policy housekeeping should never delay a response to a student or an applicable child protection report.

Bí Cineálta readiness checklist

1. Confirm the board has formally adopted the current school policy.
2. Check the policy uses the required Department template as its basis.
3. Retain evidence of consultation with staff, students and parents.
4. Open the website link and verify the approved policy is available.
5. Display and explain the school’s student-friendly policy.
6. Confirm staff understand the definition and response arrangements.
7. Check that student and parent engagements are recorded securely.
8. Schedule follow-up within the procedures’ 20-school-day limit.
9. Include the anonymised update at each ordinary board meeting.
10. Complete the calendar-year review, notification and improvement follow-up.

Frequently asked questions

What is Bí Cineálta?

Bí Cineálta, also searched as Bi Cinealta, is the Department of Education and Youth’s framework for preventing and addressing bullying behaviour in recognised primary and post-primary schools.

When did Bí Cineálta come into effect?

The requirements came into effect from the start of the 2025/2026 school year, under Circular 0055/2024, section 2.4.

Does every school need a Bí Cineálta policy?

Each school within the scope of the procedures must have a Bí Cineálta policy and a student-friendly version. Circular 0055/2024 covers recognised primary and post-primary schools and centres for education attended by students under 18.

How often must the Bí Cineálta policy be reviewed?

The policy must be reviewed each calendar year, or as soon as practicable where the board determines that a review is warranted. Section 7.2 also requires review of the measures taken following bullying with a serious adverse impact.

What does Bí Cineálta replace?

Bí Cineálta replaces the Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools 2013.