Niall Horan and Keith Duffy endorse new anti-bullying campaign

Boyzone member and actor Keith Duffy has teamed up with Irish Autism Action for a nationwide campaign aiming to get anti-bullying packs into 1,000 primary schools in the next school term.

Backed by Irish recycling company Swapkit, the campaign involves primary schoolsregistering online this month, collecting old phones for recycling over the summer and then trading these for a pack that teaches kids how to recognise, deal with and stop bullying using specially created software from E-chase.

In each pack, accessible cartoon characters talk about bullying in a non-threatening manner, and teach children there’s no shame in admitting you have been a victim of bullying.

Although it’s run by Irish Autism Action, Duffy said the campaign is for all children.

Kevin Whelan of Irish Autism Action said the charity’s previous education campaign to swap old phones for iPads, which helped over 2,100 families, was so successful it decided to launch a new campaign this time aimed at tackling bullying from an early age.