An anti-bullying campaign group said Ireland is not facing up to childhood bullying in the wake of the Ana Kriegel case, with a lack of State funding to tackle it head on.

Patricia Kennedy, from Sticks and Stones, said “nothing” had improved in terms of the State tackling bullying in the wake of Ana’s murder.

“There’s a capacity for bullying at every school in Ireland,” Ms Kennedy said. “The sooner we face up to that and actually properly start tackling that, the better.

“We could have something positive grow out of the tragic loss of Ana.

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“No child should suffer. We must listen to children’s voices and that means more resources to train schools and parents.”

‘The Sunday Times’ reported that Ana’s parents had lodged a formal complaint with their local education board regarding how the school responded to allegations the 14-year-old was being bullied.

The family believe that the school failed to act on their concerns. Reports of bullying were at the core of the murder trial earlier this year, which led to the jailing of two schoolboys.

Boy A and Boy B, who are now 15, were found guilty in June of murdering Ana at an abandoned farmhouse in Lucan on May 14, 2018. Boy A was also found guilty of sexually assaulting her. The boys were just 13 at the time.

Boy A was last week sentenced to life with a review after 12 years. Boy B was sentenced to 15 years with a review after eight years.

The schoolgirl was repeatedly bullied via Snapchat and YouTube accounts, the trial was told.

The Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board last week said it had been communicating with a statutory organisation regarding the girl but nothing more was confirmed due to confidentiality reasons.

Efforts by the Irish Independent to contact the board and the school, which can’t be named for legal reasons, were unsuccessful.

Ms Kennedy said: “I remember the James Bulger case so well and, at the time, felt it could never happen in Ireland – that a child or children could never hurt another child and lose their humanity.

“But it did happen here and now we have to stand up and recognise we have to do more.

“We have to listen to children, to root out bullying,” she said, adding: “Some children tonight will be dreading going to school tomorrow.”

The Irish Independent contacted the Department of Education for comment but had not received a response at the time of going to print.

Meanwhile, Catherine Murphy, the Social Democrat TD for the area, has told a Virgin Media News documentary how the local community was “fearful for their children” after the murder.

“There was a degree of disbelief that this could have been children themselves that could have done this.

“Things were reported and accurately reported from the trial but … she wasn’t afforded any dignity and yet there was this full anonymity for the people who committed this awful crime,” she said.

‘The Ana Kriegel Murder: A young life lost’ airs on Virgin Media One at 10pm tonight.

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