Mr. William Beausang:

It would be something like the Workplace Relations Commission. If I made a protected disclosure in the Department and I felt penalised by the Secretary General as a result, the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 allows me to go to the Workplace Relations Commission and have it determined as to whether I have made a protected disclosure and been penalised as a result. In those circumstances I would have very significant legal rights in terms of compensation, for example. Those are the circumstances in which the issue is ever only answered. Outside of that, it is around this process of making an assessment of whether it is likely and whether people believe it falls under the categories in the Protected Disclosures Act. It is an important distinction and we can never be absolute. There are clearly circumstances in which one might look at a report or disclosure and be quite convinced that it falls into the category of protected disclosure and should be treated as such, but one cannot say it definitively. It is a matter for the Workplace Relations Commission or the Circuit Court if some interim leave has been granted.