Almost 30 pupils have been suspended from a secondary school in County Limerick due to an instance of cyberbullying on Facebook.

Colaiste Chiarain in Croom suspended 28 students after they admitted to 'liking' a post on the social networking site that was deemed to victimise numerous individuals in the school community.

Noel Malone, principal at the school, said the identity of the person who made the initial posting is not yet known, while also criticising Facebook after it failed to remove the message despite the school's written request for it to be taken down.

Mr Malone noted: "It was a very unpleasant and difficult situation for the school to find itself in. This was gross invasion of the personal lives of members of our school community."

He explained the incident threw up issues of privacy and cyberbullying, stating the suspended students had expressed their support for the post by liking what it portrayed. 

Written by Donal Walsh

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