John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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231. To ask the Minister for Social Protection 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. [15081/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Protected Disclosures Act 2014 provides a statutory framework within which workers can raise concerns regarding potential wrongdoing that has come to their attention in the workplace. The Department of Social Protection is committed to fostering an appropriate environment for addressing concerns relating to potential wrongdoing in the workplace and to providing the necessary support for staff that raise genuine concerns.

The Act requires public bodies to establish and maintain procedures for dealing with protected disclosures and to provide written information relating to these procedures to workers. The Department’s policy and procedures on protected disclosures are in place since June 2016 and are available on the Department’s website, with notification issuing to all staff in the Department on 22nd June 2016. Persons submitting a protected disclosure may raise their concern via their line management or to the Head of Internal Audit in the Department or to the external bodies outlined in the Act.

Protected disclosures are initially assessed by the Protected Disclosures Group in the Department, comprising four Departmental managers - the Head of Internal Audit and Principal Officers with responsibility for Business Information Security Unit, Internal Control Unit and Human Resources (other areas may also have a role depending on the nature of the case). The Group has responsibility for assessing disclosures, determining if they are protected disclosures under the Act and referring cases to the appropriate section/authority/body for investigation. This may be an external investigator depending on the nature of the disclosure.

Three protected disclosures have been received to date under the Act.

The Department, as is required under the Act, publishes an annual report in relation to the matters outlined in Section 22 of the Act.