An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-22
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Gerard P. Craughwell (IND), Labour Panel

In fairness to her, the speech the Deputy Leader gave was fantastic.
In a recent survey of 6,500 members of the Defence Forces, 58 respondents said they had been subjected to some form of sexual harassment and 40 said they had suffered a sexual assault. We do not know whether the 58 and the 40 are all part of the same group or not.
There is something we need to put on the record, and I think the Deputy Leader will agree with me here. Any form of sexual harassment or bullying in any organisation is totally unacceptable and those involved in it need to be called out, identified and removed from the organisation. However, the only organisation in this country that has had that lens put on it is the Defence Forces. I wonder how much sexual harassment there is in the HSE, the Prison Service, the fire service and the ambulance service? How much bullying is there? I come from a teaching background and bullying was a massive problem in teaching. We are demonising the most loyal citizens of the State. Let us have a survey of all the other State organisations and quantify the issue of sexual harassment, sexual abuse and bullying in the workplace. Let us be honest and open about it. I think the Leas-Chathaoirleach and Deputy Leader will agree with that.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-01-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:32+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-22