Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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817. To ask the Minister for Health if HIQA has established and published procedures for the making of protected disclosures and the investigation of same as mandated to under section 21(1) of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014. [35466/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Section 21 (1) of the Protected Disclosures Act, 2014 requires that "every public body shall establish and maintain procedures for the making of protected disclosures by workers who are or were employed by the public body and for dealing with such disclosures."

The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has a protected disclosures policy in place for its workers, which outlines the procedure to be followed for reporting, investigating and addressing a protected disclosure in accordance with the Protected Disclosures Act. I have been informed by HIQA that it encourages and supports its employees/workers to report any issue that may impact adversely on the organisation’s ability to deliver its functions and meet its legal obligations.

The number of protected disclosures made in a calendar year, and details of the response taken, are published in HIQA’s annual report for the preceding year.