Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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230. To ask the Minister for Health the reason CORU – Health and Social Care Professionals does not have a specific part of its organisation to assist social workers and whistleblowers, similar to the system which operates with the Health and Care Professions Council in England, in view of the fact that the Health Service Executive and Túsla - Child and Family Agency are the two largest corporate organisations in the State, and the largest employers of social workers, charged with investigating abuse, given that social workers clearly need special protection when conflicts arise; and his plans to introduce such a system. [24469/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Health and Social Care Professionals Council and the registration boards being established under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 (also known collectively as CORU) are responsible for protecting the public by promoting high standards of professional conduct and professional education, training and competence amongst the 14 professions designated under the Act.

A Fitness to Practice regime, introduced on 31 December 2014 under Part 6 of the Act, provides for the investigation of complaints about the conduct or competence of registrants and, where such complaints are substantiated, the imposition of sanctions up to and including cancellation of registration.

The new process, similar to that applying to medical practitioners, nurses and midwives, applies to all registrants under the Act – including all social workers and those other health and social care professionals who have so far registered with registration boards for their designated professions during their 2 year transitional periods. Complaints may be made by any interested parties, including members of the public, colleagues, employers, a registration board, an Garda Siochána or another regulatory body. CORU goes to great lengths to ensure that the right to fair procedures of all participants being investigated under the process is protected.

CORU, through its Codes of Professional Conduct and Ethics, requires a registrant to report any wrongdoing that puts service users at risk.

Health and social care professionals who are registered with CORU can avail of protections afforded under the Protected Disclosures Act which came into effect on 15 July 2014. The Act is intended to provide a robust statutory framework within which workers can raise concerns regarding potential wrongdoing that has come to their attention in the workplace in the knowledge that they can avail of significant employment and other protections if they are penalised by their employer or suffer any detriment for doing so. Health and social care professionals are also protected by specific whistleblowing protection legislation such as the Health Act. In addition, most employers have whistleblowing policies in place.

Given the extensive legislative protections offered to whistleblowers under the Protected Disclosures Act and the Health Act, it is not considered that there is a requirement for CORU to undertake any additional role in this regard.