Billy Timmins
Question:23 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Defence the measures he has put in place to address the difficulty of bullying in the Defence Forces; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11707/02]
Ceisteanna – Questions (Resumed). Priority Questions. - Bullying in the Defence Forces.
The Defence Forces fully recognise that the singular nature of the military environment does not give anyone a licence for bullying or harassment of any kind. There is absolutely nothing in military life which requires that any individual be singled out, victimised or subjected to abuse or bullying. On the contrary, a collegial team spirit is essential to the maintenance of a military organisation and will be undermined by such practices. Such behaviour cannot and will not be tolerated.
The Defence Forces have had formal policies and procedures on sexual harassment and bullying since February 1996. The report of the Government task force on the prevention of workplace bullying, of March 2001, required all public and private organisations to reassess their policies. In 2001, the Defence Forces reviewed and revised their procedures to incorporate the best practice in both the wider public service and in the private sector.
Lectures and briefings on the topic form an integral element of the training syllabus for recruit, cadet and career courses and overseas training. The Chief of Staff has stated that commanders at all levels should bear in mind that it is a command responsibility to ensure that the military environment is free from any form of sexual harassment and bullying. He has further stated that any failure by a commander to ensure that such is the case, or to deal adequately with complaints of sexual harassment or bullying, would be considered a dereliction of duty.
Other measures taken to address the problem include the following: female liaison officers in each barracks to assist female personnel in matters which they may not wish to bring through the normal chain of command; women's days to cover issues such as interpersonal relationships, women's health issues and other matters relating specifically to women; an information campaign of posters and booklets in user friendly terms to convey the essential message of the administrative instruction on interpersonal relationships; and briefings and open discussions with mixed gender attendance.
In August 2001, the Chief of Staff established a special military steering group to examine these issues. I invited Dr. Eileen Doyle, who chaired the Government's task force on the prevention of workplace bullying, to join the group as an expert civilian chairperson.
Additional information.Dr. Doyle was asked to determine the nature and extent of sexual harassment, harassment and bullying in the Defence Forces, to review existing policies and procedures, and to make recommendations on strategies and programmes relating to awareness and education in this whole area. She was joined by two other civilian experts and by senior military personnel.
All serving female members of the PDF, some 453 women, were issued with a questionnaire, along with a large representative 10% sample of males. There was a high response rate of 54.5% overall. The results of the survey indicate that a significant number of respondents perceive themselves as experiencing unacceptable levels of harassment, bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment.
Dr. Doyle and the joint civilian-military group recently presented their completed report to me.
I have fully accepted the report and its recommendations. The report notes that it will be essential that external civilian expertise be involved throughout the implementation process for the various recommendations. On the evidence of the research findings, there is a need for immediate action on a number of fronts. As an immediate initial step in implementing these recommendations, I have therefore established the independent monitoring group recommended in the report. The monitoring group will be chaired by Dr. Eileen Doyle and will comprise the Deputy Chief of Staff, support and an assistant secretary of my Department. The monitoring group will oversee, on my behalf, the drawing up and implementation of a plan to give effect to the fundamental reforms which the report has recommended. A separate military implementation group will be established by the Chief of Staff.
In addition, an equality steering group, as recommended by the report, will be established and chaired by a member of the Labour Court. A consultative group will also be put in place. I know that we will have the active support and participation of the representative associations in this exercise. As an immediate measure, a confidential help line was made available to members of the Defence Forces from 5 April 2002.
The recommendations of the report must now be comprehensively built into the general employee relations and human resources management system across and through all ranks and all services and corps of the Defence Forces. The report emphasises the need for continuous external review, including a further external survey in spring 2004, which will involve a thorough revisiting of all the aspects covered in the current report. That second review process in 2004 will also be undertaken for official publication. Dr. Doyle is being asked to convene an early meeting of the monitoring group to come forward with proposals on how best to proceed with implementation of the recommendations.
I thank the Minister for his reply. Does he agree that this controversy was only sparked following the publication of an independent report by a retired Army officer and that initially the Defence Forces denied there was bullying in the Defence Forces, which is probably reflective of the blind eye turned to the problem, willingly or otherwise? The Minister pointed out that anti-bullying policies and procedures have been in place since 1996. Does he agree that these policies, which were issued to all Departments, have been a failure? While the Minister is not responsible for other Departments, it is a problem that may exist across the board. Is the Minister satisfied that the individuals who are giving lectures on bullying and so forth are qualified to do so? Perhaps they are not in a position or do not have the knowledge or expertise to recognise bullying.
First, the Defence Forces is the first organisation in the country to have the issues of sexual harassment, bullying, discrimination and harassment generally studied in such a detailed way. Second, 80% of the members of the Defence Forces said they are satisfied with their job and their peers. I want to put that on one level. To come to the Deputy's questions, I never said, nor did anyone say on my behalf, that we did not have a problem. It is fair to say that Dr. Clonan's work, although not exhaustive because it covered 60 females, 100% of whom he said had been sexually harassed, did not prove to be the position. Having said that, it was a wake up call and following on that work, the expert group was established, chaired by Dr. Eileen Doyle. The figures which now emerge are very different but they are still serious and warrant close attention and management.
We are setting up the monitoring group and have accepted all the recommendations. We have a job to do. There is no place for sexual harassment, bullying or discrimination in any organisation. We have to root it out and we will do everything that is recommended by the expert group to deal with it. We are not closing our eyes to the problem. We know it exists and I hope we will see a dramatic change in the next few years which will reflect the work of the group and the efforts of the Chief of Staff and his colleagues in dealing with it.
Does the Minister agree that when women were first recruited into the Army, they were under the impression that a women's corps would be set up? Approximately 4% or 5% of the Army is made up of women, which is mere tokenism, and a certain amount of sexual harassment is almost tolerated so that we can be politically correct. Greater effort should be made to recruit more females into the Defence Forces.
We are doing that. There has been a significant increase in the number of females coming into the Defence Forces in the past few years, although the overall numbers are quite low. Sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination are old phenomena, but we are regrettably late in dealing with them comprehensively. The measures being put in place nationally as a result of equality legislation are new in many organisations. It is to be hoped that legislative, regulatory and management based ways of dealing with the problem will be much more effective in the future. This is well deserved and necessary.