Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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535. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the reason his Department is not adhering to the protected disclosure policy within the Irish Prison Service; and the reason he has allowed the independent audit unit of his Department to refuse to investigate reports of continued penalisation and has instead appointed a private law firm to investigate same. [15429/18]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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The case to which the Deputy refers is being dealt with in accordance with the Prison Service Protected Disclosure policy in place. The policy provides for the Head of Internal Audit to assign an inquiry to a member of the Internal Audit Unit or to an appropriately qualified professional to carry out an investigation. The policy further provides that such an individual may be internal or external to the Department. In the specific case referred to by the Deputy, the Head of Internal Audit decided that it would be appropriate to assign an external independent investigator to undertake the investigation. The legal firm assigned has experience in investigating protected disclosures and human resource matters and will submit its report to the Head of Internal Audit upon completion.