Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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458. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of protected disclosures received by her Department in each of the years 2019 to 2021 and to date in 2022, in tabular form; if an external contractor has been engaged regarding a protected disclosure over that time period; if so, the cost of same; and the number of protected disclosures that were rejected, accepted and that remain under review for the time period in question. [13056/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Protected Disclosures Act was enacted in 2014 to allow employees to bring alleged wrongdoing to the attention of the appropriate authorities. 

In accordance with Section 22 of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, my Department publishes an Annual Report, on an anonymised basis, in relation to the disclosures received and dealt with under its policy.

With regard to the Deputy’s question on the number of protected disclosures received concerning my Department and bodies under its aegis in the timeframe specified, 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 those organisations may make a protected disclosure to that agency directly, as well as to my Department.

The table below sets out the number and details of potential protected disclosures made to my Department in the years requested.

Details of independent external assessors and investigators engaged under the Office of Government Procurement Framework for the assessment/investigation of protected disclosures from 2019 to date in 2022 are as follows:

- 6 cases were assessed by external providers at a total cost of €30,300

- 5 cases were investigated/reviewed by external providers at a total cost of €166,294 (one review has yet to be billed).

These costs do not include ongoing cases.

The Deputy may wish to note that under the protected disclosures policy, my Department may assess or investigate disclosures through other processes if deemed more appropriate. 

Information about protected disclosures received by my Department is available on our website at:www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/Publications-annual-reports?opendocument&start=0&year=2019.