Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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1787. To ask the Minister for Health the number of protected disclosures received from whistleblowers in agencies under the auspices of his Department since 2017 to date, including the names of the agencies and whether investigations were internal or external; the number of cases finalised with decision reached; the costings of cases investigated by external providers per year, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20927/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Protected Disclosures Act 2014 aims to protect people who raise concerns about possible wrongdoing in the workplace.

The Department of Health has policies and procedures for handling protected disclosures in the Department and in line with the provisions of the Protected Disclosures Act does not provide details of disclosures received in order to protect the identity of the person making a disclosure.

When the Minister receives a potential protected disclosure relating to a body under the aegis of the Department, the relevant Head of Unit will assess the disclosure and follow-up as appropriate having regard to the substance of the disclosure.

Section 22 of the Protected Disclosure Act, 2014 requires that an annual report be published in relation to the protected disclosures received by the department. All annual reports are available on the Department of Health website, www.gov.ie/en/publication/645d81-protected-disclosures/.

The table below indicates all potential protected disclosures received by the Minister relating to agencies under the auspices of the Department, in the period 2017 to date.

If the Deputy has any further queries, the relevant bodies may be able to provide further information.