Written answers
Thursday, 25 March 2021
Department of Education and Skills
Protected Disclosures
Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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134. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills 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. [16032/21]
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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There have been a total of 16 applications for Protected Disclosures made between 2017 and 2020 and to date in 2021. This figure relates to Protected Disclosures that were disclosed to the Minister under Section 8 of the Protected Disclosures Act from workers in the Education sector. 12 applications were deemed to come under the ambit of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014. No applications have been examined in part or in full by a third party or consultancy. 5 applications have been finalised and 7 are ongoing. In line with procedures for dealing with Protected Disclosures in the higher education sector, all finalised disclosures were forwarded to the Higher Education Authority for investigation
The attached table gives a breakdown by year of the number of applications made to a Minister under Section 8 of the Act, the number accepted, the number that were in part or fully examined by a third party or consultancy, the number finalised and the number ongoing.
| Year | Applications Received | Protected Disclosures Accepted | Number finalised that were in part examined by a third party or consultancy | Number finalised that were fully examined by a third party or consultancy | Protected Disclosures finalised and contents accepted and acted on | Protected Disclosures finalised and no follow up required | Protected Disclosures Ongoing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 2018 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2019 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 2020 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2021 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Total | 16 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 |
Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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135. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills 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. [16050/21]
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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In accordance with Section 22 of the Protected Disclosure Act 2014, my Department published information on protected disclosures received during 2017, 2018 and 2019 on the Department of Education website: www.education.ie/en/Publications/Corporate-Reports/Annual-Report/.
No protected disclosures have been received from Department officials or retired officials from 2017 to-date.
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