Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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281. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of protected disclosures made to his Department in each of the past five years and to date in 2021. [29639/21]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that no correspondence was received from 2014 to date that required to be progressed within my Department under the provisions of the Protected Disclosures legislation. The Protected Disclosures Act 2014 provides under section 8(2) that a disclosure may be made to “a Minister of the Government on whom any function relating to the public body is conferred or imposed by or under any enactment”. The Department received 14 such disclosures from 2014 to date and protected the identity of the correspondents in line with the requirements of the Act. As none of these were appropriate to be dealt with by the Department, the correspondents were advised accordingly and the correspondence was forwarded to the relevant bodies for attention as appropriate. In addition, the Department received correspondence from a further 4 individuals which, on examination, were not protected disclosures under the terms of the Protected Disclosures legislation.

The Deputy may wish to note that, in line with Section 22 of the Act, annual reports in relation to disclosures received by the Department are published on the Government website, at this link: www.gov.ie/en/organisation-information/80a7fc-protected-disclosures/.