Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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88. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the number of protected disclosures received by his Department in each of the years 2017 to 2020 and to date in 2021; the number that were accepted as a protected disclosure; the number that were in part or fully examined by a third party or consultancy; the number of protected disclosures under investigation over this period; and the number that were finalised and the contents accepted and acted on. [16026/21]

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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89. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the number of protected disclosures received by his Department in each of the years 2017 to 2020 and to date in 2021 from officials within his Department; the number of officials who made protected disclosures over the period and who are now not working in his Department; and the number of protected disclosures received from retired officials of his Department over the period. [16044/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 88 and 89 together.

The table below details the numbers of disclosures received by my Department between the 1^stJanuary 2017 and the 19^thMarch 2021.

Of the total number received since 2017, five were deemed not to be protected disclosures for reasons such as not disclosing relevant wrong doings, seven of them remain active and 21 of them are deemed to be closed. Three of the protected disclosures were in part or fully examined by a third party or a consultancy. As three of the disclosers are anonymous, I cannot be certain as to disclosers’ employment status at the time of making the disclosure. All disclosures made to me are acted upon. This can occur in a variety of ways such as, reports may be sought from civil or military personnel, advice may be sought from the Office of the Attorney General, Disclosers may be directed to grievance procedures or to Officer holders such as the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces who can investigate complaints made by military personnel of penalisation for making a protected disclosure.

I am fully committed to compliance with the requirements of the Protected Disclosures Act, 2014 and to the protections contained in that Act.