Peadar Tóibín
Question:1008. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Justice the number of gardaí who have taken stress leave in each of the past five years, and to date in 2023, in tabular form. [17770/23]
View answerTuesday, 18 April 2023
Questions (1008)
Written answers
I can assure the Deputy that An Garda Síochána is committed to protecting the health, safety and welfare of all Garda members and Garda staff.
I also want to make it clear that I am very aware of how stressful and difficult the work of members of An Garda Síochána can be. We only have to look at the fatal incidents to see how, in the face of the most tragic and distressing circumstances, Gardaí continue to perform their vital role in the community. There are therefore, very properly, a number of support systems in place to help Gardaí address issues of stress and mental health, including an Employee Assistance Service as well as, trauma counselling and peer support.
Last year An Garda Síochána launched 'Keeping Our People Supported', the Health and Wellbeing Strategy Statement and Action Plan 2021-2023. This plan identified three key goals to improve the health and welfare of Gardaí.
These goals were to identify, communicate and enhance existing resources to promote health, wellbeing and work ability across the organisation, to develop partnerships with key stakeholders inside and outside the organisation in order to to build capacity, and to provide support and advice.
A new wellbeing app KOPS ("Keeping Our People Supported") was launched as part of the strategy. The app makes support available to members of An Garda Síochána on a 24/7 basis and can be accessed on any mobile device. It was created to ensure members who may be distressed and in need of urgent assistance can access the supports available to them at any time.
In terms of sick leave, the Deputy will be aware that the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the management and administration of An Garda Síochána, including staffing and personnel matters. As Minister I have no direct role in this regard.
I am advised, however, that absences recorded on the organisation's Sickness Absence Management System are split into three categories: ordinary illness, occupational injury/illness arising from duty, and critical illness. Each of these categories have sub-categories, with 'mental health' included as a sub-category of ordinary illness.
I am further informed that there is currently no sub-category recording absences due to stress, anxiety or depression but in some cases, this is recorded under the mental health sub-category or in the comments field against another sub-category.
An Garda Síochána provided the below table using the mental health sub-category for the number of members recorded as taking sickness absence due to mental health illness.
|
2023 to date (01.01.2023 – 11.04.2023) |
23 Members |
|
2022 |
50 Members |
|
2021 |
47 Members |
|
2020 |
51 Members |
|
2019 |
54 Members |
|
2018 |
58 Members |
It is important to note that there is no guarantee that all absences due to stress, anxiety or depression have been recorded under he mental health sub-category, and that the data acquired from the annual Commissioner reports are correct at the time each yearly report is compiled.