Schools are liable for the harassment of homosexual students under the Equal Status Act unless they take reasonably practicable steps to prevent homophobic bullying, the Equality Authority says.
As 90 per cent of second-level schools have no anti-bullying policy which refers to homophobic bullying, they are failing to "gear up to their liabilities" according to Niall Crowley, chief executive of the authority.
He was speaking after yesterday's launch of a report, Straight Talk - Researching Gay and Lesbian Issues in the School Curriculum, which concluded that homophobic bullying was a problem in second-level schools.
The report, compiled by researchers in DCU's Centre for Educational Evaluation, was funded by the Department of Education.
Without policies which refer to homophobic bullying and procedures and sanctions for dealing with the problem, second-level schools were liable for legal action, he said.
"A person responsible for the operation of an educational institution must ensure that any person who has a right to be there is not sexually harassed or harassed. The responsible person will be liable for the sexual harassment or harassment unless he or she took reasonably practicable steps to prevent it," said Mr Crowley.
The report had "broken the silence" obscuring the presence and experience of gay and lesbian students, and the recognition of diverse sexual identities in a safe learning environment should be provided for, he added.
Barbara Johnston of the Catholic Schools Parent Associations, rejected suggestions that a school's anti-bullying policy should include specific references. This might include a student's sexual orientation or homophobic bullying.
"A school would never include reference to a child with glasses for example or the child that is overweight.
"A bullying policy has to be all encompassing so that every person is treated equally and no individual is specifically named, singled out or treated differently," said Ms Johnston.
Although yesterday's report found teachers were reluctant to confront homophobic bullying in the absence of policies, Ms Johnston said this was symptomatic of their "own inhibitions".
Ferdia Kelly, general secretary of the Joint Managerial Body, said school policies should address all nine grounds covered in the Equal Status Act and that all forms of bullying and all allegations of bullying should be tackled.
Fine Gael's education spokeswoman Olwyn Enright yesterday called for a national anti-bullying strategy in all schools. She said: "It is very worrying that many teachers appear to feel unable to challenge homophobic bullying."