Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I said in my first sentence, the Department received the protected disclosure in May 2017. The discloser has been kept informed of progress. CIT has been asked to respond by 20 July to the allegations made. The HEA, not the Minister, will determine the appropriate next steps to be taken based on the response.

Returning to what the Deputies asked about the meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts, I am not aware of any aspect of the record of that meeting on 24 May that needs to be corrected. The meeting discussed a number of issues related to CIT, including whether it had received a protected disclosure prior to 2017. The Protected Disclosures Act has retrospective effect to the extent that redress can be sought by a worker for penalisation for making a protected disclosure made before the legislation was commenced. Any concern raised internally, prior to July 2014, when the Protected Disclosure Act came into force, would have been a matter for CIT to deal with, whatever policies and procedures were in place at the time.

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