Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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150. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of protected disclosures received by her 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. [16035/21]

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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151. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of protected disclosures received by her Department in each of the years 2017 to 2020 and to date in 2021 from officials within her Department; the number of officials who made protected disclosures over the period and who are now not working in her Department; and the number of protected disclosures received from retired officials of her Department over the period. [16053/21]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 150 and 151 together.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 came into operation on 15 July 2014 and my Department has a protected disclosures policy in place, which is available on the Department's website. The policy is kept under review and a revised Policy is due to be published in 2021.

With regard to the Deputy’s question about the number of protected disclosures received by my Department in each of the years 2017 to 2020 and to-date in 2021, it is important to note that a number of agencies under the remit of my Department, including the Irish Prison Service, the Legal Aid Board, the Courts Service, An Garda Síochána and the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, have their own protected disclosures policies in place and report separately on disclosures received in line with the requirements of the Act.

It is also important to note that officials working in these organisations may make a protected disclosure to that agency directly, as well as to my Department.

The table below sets out the number of protected disclosures made to my Department for the years requested.

The number of potential protected disclosures received from workers of the Department during the time period of 2017-2021 (to-date) is 7. The number of potential protected disclosures received from workers of the Irish Prison Service during the period is 37.

I will revert directly to the Deputy in respect of the question of the number of officials that made protected disclosures over the time period who are now not working in my Department.

Under the protected disclosures policy, the Department may assess or investigate disclosures through other processes if deemed more appropriate. Since 2018, the Department has engaged the services of independent external assessors and investigators under the Office of Government Procurement Framework.

Since 2018, a total of:

- 11 potential protected disclosures have been independently assessed by the external assessor;

- 4 protected disclosures have been investigated and concluded by the external investigators; and

- 7 protected disclosures are currently under investigation by external investigators.

Prior to the introduction of the OGP Framework for the assessment/investigation of protected disclosures in 2018, a majority of assessments/investigations were conducted by the Department’s Internal Audit Unit, with the exception of two investigations which were conducted externally.

Finally, where recommendations are made following investigation, they are communicated to the relevant area/organisation for consideration and/or implementation and reviewed periodically.