Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Good. In the context of a protected disclosure made before, an external review was carried out by a retired judge, William Earley. In it, he made distinctions between bullying and victimisation that I want to put on the record. In part 7.5 he states:

It is not essential to identify a specific, individual bully where there is a finding that the IPS is responsible for repeated acts of carelessness or inefficiency which have, or are reasonably likely to have, an adverse effect upon the morale, health and welfare of a worker. Such acts can amount to unfair treatment, bullying or harassment, and/or penalisation.

He also states:

There is no definition of "bullying" in the Act. Section 3 (1) does interpret "penalisation" to mean any act or omission that affects a worker to the worker's detriment, and in particular includes

(a) suspension, lay-off or dismissal,

(b) demotion or loss of opportunity for promotion,

(c) transfer of duties, change of location of place of work, reduction in wages or change in working hours,

(d) the imposition or administering of any discipline, reprimand or other penalty (including a financial penalty),

(e) unfair treatment,

(f) coercion, intimidation or harassment,

(g) discrimination, disadvantage or unfair treatment,

(h) injury, damage or loss, and

(i) threat of reprisal.

I ask the Department and the Irish Prison Service to briefly outline whether they accepted that report.