RTE Liveline listeners were left horrified on Thursday afternoon as a letter was read out on air from a young boy studying in the Gaeltacht.
He penned the note to his mum and dad begging to come home and detailing the bullying he was being subjected to by other young boys.
His father Andrew, heartbroken by the sheer cruelty his child has had to face, allowed the letter to be read out by Joe Duffy.
It began: “Please, can I come home, all the other boys in my house hate me, and they bully me.
“Whenever they are talking and I come over, they all walk off and when they don't no one talks to me.
“They all steal my things and break them. Some other boys don't talk to me much, and sometimes they join in with the older boys.
“They all call me names like 'queer' and 'fatty,' they blame me for everything, and they say it's just a joke. Please can I come home?'
“I am being bullied. I want to come home,' the letter concluded.
Andrew said they tried to make contact with the college on numerous occasions and kept coming up blank, so, Andrew's wife got in the car for the lengthy drive down to the unnamed Gaeltacht to find out what was happening.
The boy’s parents later were told that the Bean an Tí had already spoken to the culprits but decided not to involve any parents or the college itself - leaving the young boy to endure even more harassment.
Andrew went on to say: “I was absolutely flabbergasted that the only people that they spoke to were the boys from the house.
“I was talking to them for the previous three or four days about actual instances of bullying - physical, verbal, and damage to property, etc - that my son was subjected to and I just couldn't believe that there was nobody else involved but the boys in the house."
Hundreds of listeners jumped to have their say on Twitter and to slam the handling of the issue by those who should be protecting kids during their time at the Gaeltacht.
One person wrote: “Liveline coverage of bullying in the Gaeltacht. There are child protection issues aplenty in these settings, children are limited in the language they can use, which can make them fearful to report abuse, forced to sleep in rooms with strangers, minimal supervision and so on.”
Another said: “This kind of thing is why we won't let our kids near the Gaeltacht. Sending your kids to stay with strangers for weeks leads to all sorts of horror stories. No accountability when things go wrong.”
A third added: “I had hoped it had changed since I went aged 11. Back then it was Lord of the Flies with some token Irish. Nightmare.”
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