I propose to take Questions Nos. 67 and 68 together.
Section 22 of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 requires each public body to publish an annual report setting out the number of protected disclosures received in the preceding year and the action taken. The annual reports for my Department are available on the Department's website at the following link: https://www.gov.ie/en/collection/20f06-protected-disclosures-annual-reports/
My Department received twenty-two cases between 2017 and 2020 purporting to be protected disclosures, of which thirteen were determined as such, all of them from workers of other bodies in relation to which I have legislative functions, as provided for under Section 8 of the Act. A breakdown of receipt by year of the thirteen is set out in the table below.
|
Year
|
Number of Protected Disclosures
|
|
2017
|
2
|
|
2018
|
4
|
|
2019
|
4
|
|
2020
|
3
|
|
2021 to date
|
0
|
With the exception of one case, all of these remain active cases at various stages. A few are quite advanced and close to a final decision. The assessment and, if necessary, investigation of disclosures by workers from other bodies is complex, requiring considerable work with the discloser and the other bodies concerned, to facilitate an appropriate outcome. My Department has not, to date, referred any of these cases to external third-party consultants.
In the years 2017 to 2020 no protected disclosures were received from officials within my Department or from retired officials of the Department. To date in 2021, I am aware that my Department has received correspondence from a worker within the Department that, pending the outcome of an assessment, may be a protected disclosure.
