Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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276. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the recourse available to public servants who believe they have been unfairly treated by their employer in the workplace as a result of raising a concern in the course of the performance of duties relating to value for money for the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1312/16]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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A number of human resource policies applicable in the civil service provide for procedures for employees who consider themselves unfairly treated (e.g. grievance, dignity at work etc.). I understand that equivalent policies are in place on a sectorial basis throughout the public service.  If the matter of concern raised by a public servant amounts to a defined wrongdoing (for example, something that could be regarded as an act or omission that is grossly negligent or constitutes gross mismanagement) it may also be covered by the Protected Disclosures Act, which provides a number of robust protections for workers who consider themselves to have been unfairly treated because they raised concerns about wrongdoings that came to their attention in the workplace.

The Protected Disclosures Act applies to both the public and private sectors and covers a range of persons connected with the workplace (direct employees, contractors etc.). Under the Act, workers who are direct employees are provided with access to the existing industrial dispute resolution mechanisms of the state (Rights Commissioner, the Labour Court etc.) and compensation payable under those mechanisms is increased in respect of persons penalised for having made a protected disclosure. An employee dismissed for having made a protected disclosure can claim unfair dismissal and seek interim relief pending final determination of their case. The Act also provides immunity against civil and criminal liability relating to the disclosure and a duty of protection for the identity of the discloser.

All public bodies are obliged under the Protected Disclosures Act to have procedures to deal with protected disclosures in place and made available to their workers. A number of public bodies have already prepared and published detailed written procedures and my Department has prepared guidance for public bodies on their implementation of the Act which is intended to be issued, in its final form following a recently completed public consultation, over the coming weeks.