Mr. Michael Donnellan:

Sick leave levels in 2013 and 2014 reduced on the back of central measures that were introduced by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform which implemented a reduction in sick leave entitlement for civil servants from six months to three months and so on. That change led to a reduction in sick leave for 2013 and 2014. In 2015, we saw a return to the sick leave level we currently have. Benchmarking us against the group of other European countries in terms of total sick leave lost within the system, Ireland stands at 5.2% of all losses, Sweden is at 6.1%, the Netherlands has a figure of 6.5%, Norway is at 7.9%, and Finland's figure is 5.5%. In other words, we are not doing too badly. On average, there are 15 days of sick leave per officer per year. If one strips out injury on duty and maternity-related sick leave, that comes down to 11 days per officer per year, which is not bad given the type of work prison officers have to do. There is no comparison between their work and the work being done by a civil servant in an office. We have a range of measures to tackle sick leave. The levels are unacceptable and we are always trying to drive them down. When the AH system was introduced, we saw a significant reduction in sick leave, and the 2015 figures should be viewed in that context.