MARK FEEHILY: EFFECTS OF BULLYING IS A LONG-TERM MENTAL PRISON SENTENCE

In an interview with Politics First, Westlife's Mark Feehily has said that the effects of bullying can remain with a victim for life: "I would just say to a bully to think about the devastating effects that his or her actions can have on the victim-giving someone a bruise or a black eye or calling them names is potentially damaging them for life. This scarring can prevent them from doing well at school or college, from falling in love, from doing well at the workplace and can even result in them contemplating suicide. The consequences of bullying can, in effect, be described as a long-term mental prison sentence for the victim."

Mark referred to an example of his mental scarring from bullying: "I am 31 years old, with my bullying having begun about 20 years ago, and I can still become quite anxious when I am out at night-the fear being that someone will approach me and beat me up. The effects of bullying just eat away at you over time."

For Mark, the bullying began when he started secondary school: "I was quite a soft-spoken, shy boy and did not have the necessary social skills to allow me to blend in with new pupils and a new setting. That made me an easy target for bullies."

At first the bullying was verbal but then it became physical. Mark recalled that: "I attended a party in which I kissed a girl. Because of that, the bullying intensified over a period of about six months in which I was beaten up quite badly on numerous occasions, being punched in the face and then kicked repeatedly all over my body while I was on the ground, and spat on, too."

Last year, Mark became an ambassador for the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children with the aim of having "maximum impact" on people regarding bullying. He said: "I and other Irish celebrities, such as Colin Farrell and Jedward, are campaigning, in our roles as ambassadors for the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, to highlight the mental scars which stem from bullying. We have had photographs taken of ourselves with black eyes and bleeding lips with the message that the physical scars are a representation of the mental scars. It cannot be over emphasised just how important it is for teachers to be aware that children can suffer in silence from bullying with no physical signs."

Given that Mark was mainly bullied in between lessons, he believes that having "monitors" along the corridors and in the playground is one way of tackling bullying: "My view is that children should not be left unmonitored when they are walking to and from lessons as this is when a lot of bullying occurs-this certainly was the case for me. So I would like to see the possibility of having adult monitors employed by schools to be walking along the corridors in between lessons."