Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Question 45: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the way in which he will progress the work of the expert group on bullying; his views on whether employers and unions claims of bullying should be allowed to proceed to a rights commissioner with powers to compel both parties to appear before them and powers to award compensation for distress if bullying has taken place or if he would prefer cases to go before the Employment Appeals Tribunal, where persons will only get a maximum of twice their salary in compensation and which is also limited to compensating the victim for financial loss; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18099/05]

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 48: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he has satisfied himself that the necessary framework exists for those who claim to have experienced workplace bullying; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18072/05]

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 105: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the efforts his Department has taken to determine the level of workplace bullying; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18068/05]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 106: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if it is intended to introduce legislation to provide stronger protection for workers against workplace bullying; when this legislation will be published and enacted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18006/05]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 113: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if the Health and Safety Authority will be charged with ensuring that the mental and psychological health of workers is protected; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18075/05]

Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Question 264: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will report on the progress of the expert group on bullying; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18382/05]

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 45, 48, 105, 106, 113 and 264 together.

All the questions centre around the issue of workplace bullying. An expert group was established in August 2004 under the auspices of my Department. The group was widely representative of the social partners, the Health and Safety Authority, the Equality Authority, the Labour Relations Commission, the National Centre for Partnership and Performance, the Western Health Board, a solicitor, human resources practitioners, Trinity College Dublin and a representative of my Department. The group was chaired by a senior manager of IBM Ireland.

The terms of reference of the group were to advise and report to the Minister within three months on the effectiveness of measures relating to the prevention of workplace bullying; the identification of improvements in procedures; and how to address the contribution made by bullying to the incidence of workplace stress.

The final version of the group's report was received by e-mail in my Department on Tuesday, 24 May last. I am considering it and will bring forward proposals for consideration by the Government. I expect that the Government will then publish the report and announce its intentions for implementation of the group's recommendations. I expect that the Government will be in a position to do this by the end of June.

The latest available figures on the problem of workplace bullying are from the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, which conducted a survey in the year 2000. The ESRI survey found then that 7% of persons in the workplace say that they were bullied. This means in terms of absolute numbers that at the time of the survey in 2000 approximately 115,000 persons were experiencing bullying in the workplace. This figure breaks down as a total of 52,000 males and 63,000 females.

The Health and Safety Authority, which has an anti-bullying response unit, reports having received 3,670 calls last year on workplace bullying. There are three codes of practice in operation to deal with the problem. These codes were formulated by the Labour Relations Commission, the Health and Safety Authority and the Equality Authority.