Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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3. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of cases of bullying and sexual harassment that have been reported within a Government Department since 2011; the outcome of such cases; the steps he is taking to ensure the safety and dignity of all employees within the public service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2487/18]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Bullying and harassment at work has come into a new focus in recent weeks and months. I am conscious of the Minister's Department's Dignity at Work document. I want to know what engagement there is between his Department and other Departments on the issue of bullying and sexual harassment within each line Department.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Civil Service is committed to protecting dignity and respect across all organisations.  The current policy for dealing with complaints of bullying or harassment is, as the Deputy has said, Dignity at Work, which was revised and published in 2015. The policy aims to promote respect, dignity, safety and equality in the workplace.  My Department developed the policy in conjunction with Civil Service management and the staff panel of unions. It is a matter that I and my Department take very seriously, and we go to great efforts to ensure that the policy is implemented and understood by both employees and management across the breadth of our Civil Service.

This policy provides a clear process for dealing with complaints about bullying and harassment in Civil Service organisations.  The policy also provides for the investigation of complaints. To ensure access to impartial and professional investigations of any allegations of bullying or harassment, my Department put in place an external workplace investigation services framework.  It provides a framework of companies that can be requested to investigate cases of bullying and harassment, workplace difficulties and disciplinary matters.

Under the auspices of my Department the Civil Service Employee Assistance Service is available to all civil servants. Although my Department does not currently hold figures for total numbers of bullying and sexual harassment complaints, the following data are available centrally. The numbers of investigations requested by Civil Service organisations under the external workplace investigation services framework in 2015, 2016 and 2017 were 15, 18 and 27, respectively.The numbers of mediations in the Civil Service carried out by the civil and public service mediation service in 2015, 2016 and 2017 were 37, 36 and 29, respectively.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I am concerned that the data are not held centrally. What unit in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is in charge of ensuring the dignity at work policies are implemented and made known in each Department? I tabled a parliamentary question to each Minister about the level of complaints within his or her respective Department, although my question to the Minister may have been worded differently. There have been 89 complaints since 2011, eight of which were upheld. During that period there were two complaints made in the Department of Health, 51 in the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection and 18 in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. As Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, can the Minister stand over the consistency of implementation of the dignity at work policy in each Department and indicate who in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is driving this policy and ensuring it is being implemented across Departments such that, regardless of in what Department a civil servant is working, he knows that can stand over this process?

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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In my Department responsibility for this issue lies within the human resources section which works closely with the public service reform unit of my Department. On whether there is consistent implementation of the policy across the Civil Service, I am satisfied that it is applied. It is a matter I have reviewed with staff in my Department and we believe the policy is applied broadly and fairly, but we can never be complacent on this matter. The statistics I have given to the Deputy and the ones referenced by him should be viewed in the context of the many tens of thousands working in the Civil Service, although one case is one too many. We have to treat the issue with the seriousness it deserves. I am personally committed to ensuring that will happen, as I know my Department is, too. This is a very serious matter.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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On the agencies or bodies within the remit of the Department of Public and Expenditure and Reform and each of the other Departments, has the Minister been made aware of any State agency or body in which the incidence of bullying or sexual harassment is higher than in other offices?

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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No part of the Civil Service or any semi-State body has been identified to me as having a higher incidence than the average figure or the norm. Any case that is proved does not reflect well on our work in ensuring there is dignity in the workplace. As I said, one case is one too many. My Department and I want to ensure anybody who comes to work in the Civil Service or elsewhere is treated with the dignity and respect he or she deserves. I am confident that this happens in the overwhelming majority of cases. Any example of where this policy is not applied should be and will be dealt with fairly and seriously. Anybody who comes to work for any part of the State deserves to be treated fairly and professionally and have his or her human dignity respected.

Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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In the absence of Deputies Mattie McGrath and Joan Burton, we will move to Question No. 6.