Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 April 2023
1144. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of allegations of bullying made by departmental staff against departmental staff in each of the past five years, and to date in 2023, in tabular form; and if he will detail what actions are being taken by his Department to investigate the allegations, or if they are being investigated. [17790/23]
View answerThe Civil Service is committed to protecting dignity and respect across the organisation and my Department implements the Civil Service wide anti-bullying, harassment and sexual harassment policy ‘Dignity at Work’. I am satisfied that the policy is being implemented effectively throughout my Department.
From time to time staff have raised a variety of issues regarding workplace difficulties. All issues raised are carefully considered under the Dignity at Work policy.
Since 2018, six cases of alleged workplace difficulties have been received by Human Resources. Of these six cases, two cases were forwarded for formal independent investigation based on the criteria for bullying as defined in the Dignity at Work policy. One of those investigations is still ongoing. The result of the other was that the allegations were not upheld.
The table below lists the number of complaints of alleged bullying received by my Department from 2018 to present:
|
Year |
Number of Bullying Cases |
Number of cases independently investigated |
|
2018 |
4 |
1 |
|
2019 |
0 |
0 |
|
2020 |
2 |
1 |
|
2021 |
0 |
0 |
|
2022 |
0 |
0 |
|
2023 |
0 |
0 |
