John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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292. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform 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. [15080/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department's procedures for making a protected disclosure have been developed in line with the Protected Disclosures Act, 2014.  The Department's Protected Disclosures policy has been agreed by the Department's Management Board and has been circulated to all staff.  My Department also held two briefing sessions on the policy for staff recently. 

The policy clearly sets out the process by which a worker of the Department can make a protected disclosure, what will happen when a disclosure is made and what the Department will do to protect the discloser.  The policy supports my Department's strong commitment to ensuring that its culture and working environment encourage, facilitate and support any employee of the Department to "speak up" on any issue that could impinge on the Department's ability to carry out its roles and responsibilities to the high standard expected.  

As part of the Department's policy, a Protected Disclosures Recipients Panel has been established, comprising of 9 senior staff from across the organisation.  Staff wishing to make a protected disclosure may do so to any member of this Panel, or to a line manager if they prefer.  The role of members of the Panel is to make an initial assessment of protected disclosures as soon as possible and to keep the discloser periodically apprised of progress. 

Where a full investigation is required, the matter is referred to the Chief Operations Officer and to the Head of Internal Audit who will arrange for the investigation.  This is carried out, as appropriate depending on the nature and scale of the alleged wrongdoing, by: a senior staff member nominated by the Secretary General; externally by professional experts in a particular area; An Garda Síochaná or other relevant statutory body; the Internal Audit Unit; or, in the case of a relatively minor alleged wrongdoing, at the level appropriate within the Department. 

I can confirm that, as per the Annual Report required under Section 22 of the Protected Disclosures Act, no protected disclosures have been received by my Department (see www.per.gov.ie/en/protected-disclosures/. 

The Deputy may also wish to be aware that, in the context of its overall policy role, my Department is in the process of establishing a multi-supplier framework agreement for third parties to provide services to public bodies related to the Protected Disclosures Act.