Protected Disclosures

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 March 2022

Tuesday, 8 March 2022

Questions (375)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

375. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of protected disclosures received by her Department in each of the years 2019 to 2021 and to date in 2022, in tabular form; if an external contractor has been engaged regarding a protected disclosure over that time period; if so, the cost of same; and the number of protected disclosures that were rejected, accepted and that remain under review for the time period in question. [13059/22]

Written answers

Minister for Social Protection

The Department of Social Protection is committed to ensuring there is an appropriate and positive environment for addressing any concerns of staff in relation to wrongdoing in the workplace. It has an internal policy and procedures to deal with all submissions under protected disclosures that arise. The policy is published on www.gov.ie.

The number of submissions received under the protected disclosures procedures were:

Year	Received & Assessed	Accepted*	Rejected*	Under review	Comment
2019	9	0	9	0
2020	1	0	1	0
2021	5	0	1	4
2022	0				Rec’d to 4/3/22

No external contractor has been engaged over this period.

* Accepted means that action has been necessary following assessment or investigation. Rejected means that the submission has been assessed or investigated and no further action was deemed necessary.