John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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468. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the process within his Department for dealing with protected disclosures under the 2014 Act; if the examinations of such disclosures are carried out by an independent authority or persons other than those within the organisation to which the disclosure refers; the number of disclosures received by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15068/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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My Department has a Protected Disclosures Policy in place under which a worker who wishes to make a protected disclosure may do so to any of the following confidential recipients:

- an independent confidential service engaged for this purpose,

- the Head of the Internal Audit Unit in the Department, or

- any member of the Department’s Management Board

Training was provided to my Department's nominated confidential recipients. In accordance with the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, a worker will not be penalised for making a protected disclosure, getting a disclosure wrong or being mistaken provided the worker had a reasonable belief that the information disclosed showed, or tended to show, wrongdoing.

Contact details for all of the above confidential recipients as well as procedures for making a protected disclosure are contained in my Department's policy document. A copy of this policy document was circulated to all staff and is also on my Department's internal EZone.

To date there have been three protected disclosures under the Protected Disclosures Act. Each one has been or is in the process of being handled in accordance with the Department's policy and procedures.