Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 February 2021
597. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice the number of protected disclosures made to GSOC since its establishment; the number that required the engagement of a third-party consultant in order to process them; and the costs of same. [8133/21]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) was established as a statutorily independent body under the Garda Síochána Act 2005. I, as Minister, have no role or function in the processing or management of complaints which are made to GSOC for investigation.
I am informed by GSOC that the table below gives the number of protected disclosures made to GSOC under sections 6, 7 and 8 of the Protected Disclosures Act, 2014 i.e. from employees of GSOC (section 6) and employees of the Garda Síochána (sections 7 and 8).
|
Year |
Number of Disclosures under section 6 |
Number of Disclosures under sections 7 and 8 |
|
1 July 2014 to 31 December 2016 |
Nil |
11 |
|
2017 |
Nil |
22 |
|
2018 |
Nil |
24 |
|
2019 |
Nil |
31 |
In accordance with the statutory reporting obligation under section 22 of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, GSOC publishes these figures every spring in their Protected Disclosures Annual Reports. The 2014 to 2019 reports are available on the GSOC website (https://www.gardaombudsman.ie/gardai/protected-disclosures-annual-report/).
I am further advised that GSOC does not use third party consultants to process protected disclosures.
