Protected Disclosures

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 25 March 2021

Thursday, 25 March 2021

Ceisteanna (42, 43)

Catherine Murphy

Ceist:

42. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Finance the number of protected disclosures received by his Department in each of the years 2017 to 2020 and to date in 2021; the number that were accepted as a protected disclosure; the number that were in part or fully examined by a third party or consultancy; the number of protected disclosures under investigation over this period; and the number that were finalised and the contents accepted and acted on. [16030/21]

Catherine Murphy

Ceist:

43. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Finance the number of protected disclosures received by his Department in each of the years 2017 to 2020 and to date in 2021 from officials within his Department; the number of officials who made protected disclosures over the period and who are now not working in his Department; and the number of protected disclosures received from retired officials of his Department over the period. [16048/21]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Finance

I propose to take Questions Nos. 42 and 43 together.

Section 22 of the Protected Disclosures Act requires the publication of a report in respect of protected disclosures received in the preceding year setting out certain information in respect of protected disclosures received. For the purposes of complying with section 22, the Department publishes information regarding Protected Disclosures formally identified as such, without identifying the person making the disclosure. Previous reports indicate that one protected disclosure was received in 2017, one in 2018, one in 2019, and no protected disclosure received during 2020 with a report of this due to be published by June of this year.  There is no protected disclosure to date in 2021.  None of these protected disclosures were made by an official (current, former or retired) of the Department.  One protected disclosure was examined by a third party, the services of which was procured under the Office of Government Procurement's 'Receipt and Investigation of Protected Disclosures Act 2014' Procurement Framework.

Tabular summary:

2017	1
2018	1
2019	1
2020	nil
2021	nil to date