John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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72. To ask the Taoiseach 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; and the number of disclosures received by his Department. [15082/17]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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My Department has a Policy on Protected Disclosures which sets out the process by which an employee (or former employee) of the Department of the Taoiseach can make a protected disclosure; what will happen when a disclosure is made; and what my Department will do to protect a discloser.

Under my Department's Policy on Protected Disclosures, any employee or former employee of the Department of the Taoiseach who has a reasonable belief in relation to one or more of the wrongdoings as defined in the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 should disclose the relevant information to my Department's Head of Corporate Affairs in the first instance. Where the individual making the disclosure wishes to do so, he/she may alternatively disclose the concern and relevant information to my Department's Head of Internal Audit.

To date, no disclosures have been received from employees or former employees of my Department under its Policy on Protected Disclosures.