Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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268. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of protected disclosures received by his 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. [13055/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I refer to the reply to Question No. 67 of 25 March 2021 which sets out the position in this matter for the years 2017 to 2020.

Seven protected disclosures were received in the period 2019-2020, as follows:

The annual report for 2021 will be published on or before 30 June 2022, in accordance with the Act. The provisional figures indicate six cases received in 2021 purporting to be protected disclosures. To date, one case purporting to be a protected disclosure has been received this year. The cases are at various stages of processing.

All but one of the cases during the period in question are from workers of other bodies in relation to which I have legislative functions, as provided for under Section 8 of the Act. The assessment and, if necessary, investigation of disclosures by workers from other bodies is particularly complex, requiring considerable work with the discloser and the other bodies concerned, to facilitate an appropriate outcome. My Department has not, to date, referred any of these cases to external third-party contractors.