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Protected Disclosures

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 March 2022

Tuesday, 8 March 2022

Questions (777)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

777. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of protected disclosures received by his 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. [13045/22]

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Written answers

As required under the relevant legislation, my Department has a Protected Disclosures Policy in place under which a staff member who wishes to make a protected disclosure may do so to any of the following confidential recipients:

- an independent confidential service engaged for this purpose,

- the Head of the Internal Audit Unit in the Department, or

- any member of the Department’s Management Board.

Contact details for all of the above confidential recipients, as well as procedures for making a protected disclosure, are contained in the policy document which has been circulated to all staff and which is also available on the Department's intranet. 

The recipient carries out an initial review to establish whether a submission meets the criteria for a Protected Disclosure.  If it meets the criteria, the case is then assigned to a senior official who will take the appropriate action, for instance an investigation, depending on the subject matter of the case.

With one exception, all the Protected Disclosures have been investigated by senior DAFM officials who have had no previous involvement in the matters being disclosed.  In one case, in order to avoid any conflict of interest, an outside consultancy was asked to carry out the investigation.

The Department is committed to taking any necessary action should evidence of wrongdoing be found as a result of an investigation arising from a Protected Disclosure.  

The numbers and status of Protected Disclosures received in the Department from 2019 to date are:

Year

Number

Outcome/Status

Cost of External Contractor

2019

2

No wrongdoing was found in either case.

NIL

2020

4*

No wrongdoing found in three cases. One case is ongoing.

€2,952.00

2021

1

No wrongdoing was found in this case.

NIL

2022

0

None received yet. However, there can be time required between receiving information from an individual, establishing that it is a protected disclosure and recording it as such.

NIL

 

*One of the four cases counted for 2020 was received in 2018 but was not acted on due to the discloser withdrawing another protected disclosure which covered the same topic. Following an internal review of the matter in 2020, the Department commenced an investigation into the disclosure.

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