Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 25 February 2021
373. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if a departmental official can block a member of the public from contacting any department official via his or her official departmental email; if so, the offence the member of the public must have committed to warrant the sanction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10855/21]
View answerMy Department engages with many different types of stakeholders in the course of our business. Our Customer Charter and Customer Action plan commits us to treating everyone properly, fairly, impartially and with courtesy. We expect that our staff are engaged with in a similar way. Criticism of policy is, of course, not unusual and may at times be robust, but the norm is that there are respectful exchanges between the parties in the course of engagement with our sectors. A constructive working engagement between DAFM and our stakeholders is essential even if we do not always agree on some things. However, any approach that involves targeted personal abuse is a hindrance to this working relationship.
In cases where personal abuse is reported by a member of staff, the staff member concerned is entitled to inform the person that the abuse is unacceptable. Where this abuse is personalised and targeted and/or extended over a period of time, the staff member’s manager is entitled to take action out of a duty care for the staff member. This is particularly true where the person engaging in abuse has been informed that their interaction is unacceptable but continues with it. It would be remiss of the manager not to undertake such action in response in order to protect staff.
Thankfully, the vast majority of stakeholders engage in a positive and constructive manner and instances of abuse are rare. Similarly, the need for the Department to take action in such instances is also rare but must, on occasion, be undertaken.
