Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 January 2024
1004. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice the number of protected disclosures received by her Department in the past ten years to date in respect of the Irish Prison Service; the status of same; if external consultants have been engaged to review and or investigate protected disclosures; and if she will provide a schedule of protected disclosures that have been rejected and those that have been accepted over that time. [56458/23]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware, the purpose of the Protected Disclosures Act (the “Act”) 2014, as amended by the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022, is to afford important protections to persons making protected disclosures. A protected disclosure, as set out in section 5 of the Act, is a disclosure of information which, in the reasonable belief of a worker, tends to show one or more relevant wrongdoings; came to the attention of the worker in a work-related context; and is disclosed in the manner prescribed in the Act.
The Act provides that protected disclosures can be made internally to the worker’s employer and also externally to persons other than their employer where certain conditions set out in the Act are met.
As the Deputy may be aware, the Irish Prison Service (IPS) introduced its own Protected Disclosures Policy in July 2018 and has mainly received protected disclosures directly from its employees since then. My Department has also transferred correspondence to the IPS, where appropriate, for consideration under its Protected Disclosures Policy. Expert external service providers are contracted, as required, by my Department to assess, investigate and review protected disclosures.
The table below provides details of correspondence relating to the IPS received and managed under the Department’s Protected Disclosures Policy from 2015 to 2022.
|
Year |
Correspondence assessed |
Correspondence transferred to the IPS for assessment/ investigation |
Protected Disclosures investigated by the Department |
Status at 31.12.23 |
Correspondence deemed not a Protected Disclosure and dealt with under other process, e.g. HR procedure etc |
|
2015 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
Closed |
0 |
|
2016 |
7 |
0 |
4 |
Closed |
3 |
|
2017 |
7 |
0 |
4 |
Closed |
3 |
|
2018 |
11 |
2 |
4 |
1 case ongoing |
5 |
|
2019 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
n/a |
4 |
|
2020 |
14 |
5 |
5 |
1 case ongoing |
4 |
|
2021 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
n/a |
2 |
|
2022 |
10 |
5 |
2 |
Closed |
3 |
As the Deputy is aware, the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022 commenced operation on January 1, 2023. This new legislation includes significant changes to the operation of the legal framework for the protection of reporting persons and sets out new statutory obligations in relation to the management of protected disclosures.
My Department's Protected Disclosures Annual Report for 2023 will be published on the Department's website by March 31, 2024.
The Irish Prison Service Protected Disclosures Annual Reports from 2018 to 2022 can be found at: www.irishprisons.ie/?s=protected+disclosures.
