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

I appreciate the understanding of the Chairman and Secretary General for what I am doing here today. At the meeting on 17 January, a number of instances of sexual harassment that have occurred was raised. The letter from the Department of 7 February, following the meeting, stated that nine instances emerged between a one, a three and a five, according to the way they were presented. Can the Department or the Irish Prison Service, IPS, advise if every instance, either intra-staff or those highlighted through a P19, the form which is used to register a complaint against a prisoner and lodged by a prison nurse, prison nurse officer or agency nurse working within a prison, has been acted upon with an appropriate investigation and follow-up? I am anticipating the answer I will get but if the answer is "No", would the Department be prepared, in the interests of women working within the Prison Service and female contractors, to consider carrying out a confidential survey among female staff to inquire into these matters?