Universities investigate sexual harassment and assault complaints

Trinity College Dublin said 19 complaints of alleged bullying and/or harassment were made to the Office of the Junior Dean since the start of 2020. File photo

Munster Technical University said it is still investigating two alleged incidents this year involving "sexual assault/sexual harassment", while Trinity College Dublin has also received eight complaints relating to sexual harassment in the past year.

MTU, established in January 2021 following the merger of the two institutes of technology, Cork Institute of Technology and IT Tralee, said it would not be making any further comment while the matters were under investigation. 

The two cases were among three complaints notified to the university since the start of last year, as revealed by a Freedom of Information request, with one involving alleged harassment and dating from 2020. All three occurred in Cork.

Trinity College Dublin said 19 complaints of alleged bullying and/or harassment were made to the Office of the Junior Dean since the start of 2020. Those allegations, made by students, include seven relating to alleged sexual harassment. Of the total number of 18 complaints, seven allegedly took place via electronic means.

TCD also investigated 10 complaints involving staff, including five allegations by staff against fellow staff alleging bullying and intimidation, all five of which are still under investigation.

One case of alleged sexual harassment, with the complainant a staff member and the alleged perpetrator someone not directly associated with the college, resulted in sanctions.

At IT Sligo, five complaints were received in total since the start of 2020, all from two separate incidents, one of which involved complaints of racism arising out of an online learning platform.

Two of the complaints arose from a single incident on the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), in which two complaints of racism from the incident were investigated and upheld. A staff member had complained about the behaviour of two students.

According to the college: "Awareness training was prescribed and undertaken by each of the accused, who also issued apologies to the class."

Two other complaints arose from a single incident that occurred after March 2021, involving three interrelated complaints of bullying and harassment. A student complained about behaviour of staff and staff counter-complained about the behaviour of the student.