John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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301. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the process within her 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 her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15069/17]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Details of my Department's policy in relation to Protected Disclosures together with the Annual Reports published in accordance with Section 22 of the Act are available on my Department's website at

The Policy provides that concerns will be treated seriously and investigated where that is considered appropriate. The Policy provides that if a discloser has a reasonable belief that a serious wrongdoing relating to the workplace has occurred, is occurring or is likely to occur, then they should report this in the first instance to their line manager, setting out the basis for their belief. If the line manager is not available to receive the disclosure or if for any other reason the discloser feels unable to raise the matter with their line manager, then they may make a disclosure in writing to a more senior officer.

It is also open to workers to make a disclosure directly to the Assistant Secretary – Corporate Division in the first instance, if they wish. The Assistant Secretary - Corporate Division is a member of the Department’s Management Board and is responsible for overseeing the process of dealing with disclosures.

In relation to ensuring that investigations are undertaken by persons other than those within the organisation to which the disclosure refers, the Assistant Secretary – Corporate Division may undertake an independent evaluation of the matter without referring it for evaluation to the relevant Head of Division in the first instance, where they consider it appropriate to do so. The Policy also provides that if a worker wishes to make a disclosure relating to wrongdoing with which the Assistant Secretary – Corporate Division may be connected, such disclosure should be made directly to the Secretary General.

I am advised that no disclosures had been received by my Department up to the end of 2016. My Department has confirmed however that it is currently carrying out an investigation, in line with the process set out in the Department’s policy, on foot of a submission which it recently received.