I propose to take Questions Nos. 152 and 153 together.
Protecting the health, safety and welfare of all staff and visitors to the premises occupied by the Department is of paramount importance. Depending on the specific circumstances, matters pertaining to assault and/or sexual harassment would likely require the direct involvement of An Garda Síochána.
There are various legislative requirements, policies and systems in place to underpin a safe working environment across each of the eleven buildings occupied by my Department and its Offices, which include the Companies Registration Office, the Intellectual Property Office of Ireland, the Labour Court, the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement and the Workplace Relations Commission. These include, but are not limited, to the following:
- Under the Employment Equality Acts 1998-2015, sexual harassment and harassment of an employee (including agency workers and trainees) in the workplace is against the law. This includes sexual harassment and harassment by co-workers; the employer; clients, customers or other business contacts of the employer. Information on the Employment Equality Acts can be found at www.workplacerelations.ie.
- The Safety, Health and Welfare Act 2005 deals with a range of issues, including setting out requirements and advice to employers to guard against inappropriate behaviour on their premises. Information on this legislation is available at www.hsa.ie, the website of the Health and Safety Authority of Ireland HSA), an agency under the remit of my Department. This legislation requires employers to report any accidents and dangerous occurrences to be reported to the H.S.A. State Authorities also have a statutory requirement to report any unplanned or uncontrolled occurrence or sequence of occurrences that caused or had the potential to cause injury, ill-health, disease, and/or damage/loss to property/service to the State Claims Agency.
There are also various Civil Service codes of conduct, procedures and internal processes to protect the health, safety and welfare of staff and visitors. The Civil Service Code of Standards and Behaviour is an important framework within which all civil servants are expected to work, and this includes observing appropriate standards of behaviour at work. This is available at www.sipo.ie.
The Civil Service is committed to protecting and promoting dignity and respect across the organisation. The Civil Service Dignity at Work 2015 policy aims to promote respect, dignity, safety, and equality in the workplace. Every member of staff is made aware that all forms of bullying, harassment, and sexual harassment are unacceptable, and every member of staff has a duty to behave in an acceptable and respectful manner towards other staff members and visitors alike. This policy can be found at www.gov.ie. Related to this, and at the same website, is the Civil Service Disciplinary Code, which is also underpinned by various legislative requirements. The Disciplinary Code sets out the various steps involved to investigate allegations of misconduct, which may include assault and or/sexual assault. Any disciplinary matters would be an internal matter for the HR Unit of the Department to consider.
Supplementing all of the above are internal Departmental policies such as the Department’s Health and Safety Statement; a Physical Access Policy which includes details regarding Departmental premises and a CCTV Policy. Such policies could also be used as part of any investigative requirement, either internally or with An Garda Síochána, in the event of an allegation being notified to the Department by a staff member or an external person.
My Department does not operate any public offices so the volume of members of the public onsite at Departmental premises is generally low. Nonetheless I can assure the Deputy that any allegations of assault or sexual harassment by a member of staff or of the public, would be treated with the utmost gravity and involve all appropriate mechanisms, legal and otherwise, to ensure that the matter was investigated in a thorough and proper fashion.
The specific day-to-day operations of the Agencies under the aegis of my Department are a matter for their respective Boards and Heads of Agencies. All of the legislative requirements referred to above are applicable to each Agency and the public sector codes of practice and requirements of the highest standards of behaviour expected of staff essentially mirror those of the Civil Service.
