Mr. Hugh Hume:

I will deal with the second point first. In regard to protected disclosers, we are mandated to investigate protected disclosers made to us under section 5 of the Act, and we do that. Last year, we received 20 protected disclosers into the organisation. Currently, we have approximately 69 investigations in hand that would come under the gambit of a protected disclosure. The protection of the rights and the anonymity of a protected disclosure made to GSOC is one of our primary functions when we receive it. We take this extremely seriously and place a great deal of emphasis on this. We have a dedicated protected disclosure unit, which is of a very high standard. In fact, it leads the way in Ireland and is a member of the European Alliance for Integrity in terms of setting standards and processes across Europe. It operates to a very high standard and is involved in helping other Departments develop the transposition of new legislation.

Human rights and the protection of the whistleblower disclosure are at the forefront of everything that is done in regard to that matter. If a person contacts the commission, only the three of us are allowed to access the communication and make a decision as to what happens next. That is sacrosanct, of which I can assure the Deputy.

In regard to learning from the protected disclosure, and I am responding to the Deputy’s points in reverse order, we do a number of things. We have moved to take cases through the DPP to court. We have taken cases through discipline and we have provided systemic learning to the Garda Commissioner to say there was nothing criminally wrong and nothing of a disciplinary nature but there were some organisational structural failings that need to be considered. All three of us have written to the Commissioner identifying specific issues that we believe need to be addressed.

Moving to the Deputy’s first question on whether a member of the public can contact us in respect of a protected disclosure legislation, or in respect of the Courts Service, the answer to that is quite simply "No", because a protected disclosure is in regard to an employee, a member of An Garda Síochána, who wants to tell us about wrongdoing he or she has observed while an employee within An Garda Síochána. If a member of the public wants to report a matter to us, he or she can do as part of our complaints series but he or she does not get extended the rights, anonymity and protection of a protected disclosure unless he or she was a member of that organisation when the wrongdoing was observed or he or she became aware of it. The legislation is geared towards employees rather than more widely.

People who make complaints to us get protections. We look after the data and we ensure they are properly protected but at some stage their details have to be released to the person we are investigating and they do not have those protections.