Some 51 per cent of State-sponsored bodies have no guidelines for dealing with sexual harassment and almost half have no policy on equal opportunities, a new survey has found.
The findings made "dismal reading", the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue, said when the official report was published yesterday. He noted that "despite consistent policy in the area over the last 15 years", only 55 per cent of organisations surveyed had an equal opportunities policy, which was 3 per cent less than in a 1990 survey.
A total of 82 State-sponsored bodies were surveyed in the latest Department report. Each was measured against an ideal standard, covering areas such as equality policies, family-friendly working conditions and gender representation in management.
Aer Lingus and Aer Rianta were found to have come closest to reaching the standard, both with a 79 per cent compliance rate. The former came out on top by just 0.03 per cent.
Others in the top 10 were IDA Ireland (73 per cent), An Bord Pleanala (72 per cent), the National Rehabilitation Board (71 per cent), Beaumont Hospital (70 per cent), CERT (69 per cent), and RTE, Forfas and Temple Bar Properties (all 68 per cent).
A spokeswoman for the Department said it decided against publishing the names of the worst offenders, which had compliance rates as low as 2 per cent, as "we wanted to emphasise the opportunities for best practice instead". However, she said it was possible a "name and shame" policy would be introduced when the next survey is carried out.
The Department will inform organisations in private how they fared in the survey.
The 28 bodies who failed to participate in the study by not completing questionnaires will also be contacted. They included the Arts Council, Bord na Gaeilge, the Health and Safety Authority, the National Gallery and the National Lottery.
The report shows marginal progress in some areas, with the proportion of State bodies with writ ten sexual harassment guidelines rising from 35 per cent in 1990 to 49 per cent.
However, the proportion of organisations with a designated equal opportunities officer fell to less than half.
In relation to employment initiatives, roughly half of respondents said that flexi-time, job-sharing and career breaks were available.
Childcare facilities were found to be poor, however, with only 18 per cent offering indirect support and 6 per cent direct support. Just 14 per cent afforded paternity leave.
In terms of opportunities, the report found that women represented a quarter of State-sponsored employees in 1996, compared to 38 per cent of the total Irish workforce.
Furthermore, women held only 9 per cent of top management positions in State bodies. In contrast, they held 70 per cent of clerical positions. The area in which there was closest parity between men and women was catering and cleaning.
