Mr. John Devitt:

It has established two separate channels for its employees. That company has some 400,000 employees around the world. It has a "tell us and ask us" facility, which separates advice from reporting functions within the organisation. It is important that any employee who has concerns is able to ask questions in confidence and safely to assess the veracity of the concern in the first place and then establish the channels through which they should report. Our recommendation is to allow for some internal facility that would provide advice to members of An Garda Síochána on how they can report. If the investigation and the advisory function is not separated, it can create some confusion in the mind of the whistleblower as to whether they should be reporting the concern and asking advice about the concern, and how they should deal with it. To put it in clear language, it is worth distinguishing between help lines and hot lines. The help line offers advice; a hot line offers someone an opportunity to report. We would suggest that the confidential recipient offers members of An Garda Síochána an opportunity to seek advice in the first instance on reporting to GSOC, a Member of the Oireachtas or directly to a senior member of An Garda Síochána.