Written answers
Thursday, 25 March 2021
Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Protected Disclosures
Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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11. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment 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 time period; and the number that were finalised and the contents accepted and acted on. [16029/21]
Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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12. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment 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. [16047/21]
Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 12 together.
Since the Protected Disclosure legislation was introduced in 2014, my Department has received 10 Protected Disclosures as set out in the table below
YEAR DISCLOSURE RECEIVED IN MY DEPARTMENT | NUMBER OF DISCLOSURES RECEIVED | EXTERNAL OR THIRD PARTY INVESTIGATION | CURRENT STATUS |
---|---|---|---|
2017 | 1 | Legal advice procured to support Department officials. | Closed – no evidence of wrongdoing under The Protected Disclosure Act 2014 following investigation. |
2018 | 1 | Legal advice procured to support Department officials. | Ongoing |
2019 | 3 | Legal advice procured to support Department officials with one case. | Three closed with only one requiring investigation. No evidence of wrongdoing under The Protected Disclosure Act 2014 following investigation. |
2020 | 4 | Legal advice procured to support Department officials with two cases. | Two closed requiring no investigation. Ongoing investigation in the remaining two. |
2021 | 1 | Closed – no investigation required. |
The Act imposes an obligation to protect the identity of the discloser and in this regard information cannot be given on individuals who have made disclosures.
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