Written answers
Tuesday, 5 November 2024
Department of Justice and Equality
Prison Service
Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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761. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if pods are being built in Portlaoise prison to increase the number of places available in the prison; if so, the total number of units, broken down by size (number of occupants), and the cost per unit of each, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44800/24]
Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I can advise the Deputy that there are currently no plans to build Independent Living Units in Portlaoise Prison.
Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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762. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of protected disclosure applications that have been received by the Irish Prison Service since 2014; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44815/24]
Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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763. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of protected disclosure applications received by the Irish Prison Service since 2014 that have been investigated; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44816/24]
Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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764. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the findings or outcomes of those investigations into the protected disclosure applications received by the Irish Prison Service since 2014; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44817/24]
Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 762 to 764, inclusive, together.
As the Deputy is aware, the purpose of the Protected Disclosures Act (the “Act”) 2014, as amended by the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022 (“the Act”), is to afford important protections to persons making protected disclosures.
A protected disclosure, as set out in section 5 of the Act, is a disclosure of information which, in the reasonable belief of a worker, tends to show one or more relevant wrongdoings; came to the attention of the worker in a work-related context; and is disclosed in the manner prescribed in the Act.
The Act provides that protected disclosures can be made internally to the worker’s employer and also externally to persons other than their employer where certain conditions set out in the Act are met. Section 8 of the Act provides that a worker can report directly to the Minister.
The Department has procedures in place for the receipt of disclosures as an employer and under Section 8 of the Act.
The table below provides details of all correspondence relating to the Irish Prison Service received and managed by the Department from 2015 to 2022.
Since 2023, Section 8 of the Act provides that all disclosures received by the Minister are sent directly to the Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner without any consideration by the Minister.
| Year | Correspondence assessed | Correspondence transferred to the IPS for assessment/ investigation | Protected Disclosures investigated by the Department | Investigation Status at 31.12.23 | Correspondence deemed not a Protected Disclosure and dealt with under other process, e.g. HR procedure etc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Closed | 0 |
| 2016 | 7 | 0 | 4 | Closed | 3 |
| 2017 | 7 | 0 | 4 | Closed | 3 |
| 2018 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 1 case ongoing | 5 |
| 2019 | 5 | 1 | 0 | No Investigation | 4 |
| 2020 | 14 | 5 | 5 | 1 case ongoing | 4 |
| 2021 | 2 | 0 | 0 | No investigation | 2 |
| 2022 | 10 | 5 | 2 | Closed | 3 |
I can advise the Deputy that the Irish Prison Service introduced their own Protected Disclosures Policy in July 2018. This provided for a mechanism to report wrongdoings to the Irish Prison Service as an employer through a dedicated internal Protected Disclosures manager.
The below table displays all allegations of wrongdoing received and dealt with directly by the Irish Prison Service as employer under its own Protected Disclosures policy between July 2018 and 31st December 2023.
| Year | No of Disclosures dealt with by IPS under IPS Policy | Under Evaluation | Assessed as not a Protected Disclosure and resolved by the IPS | Investigated as a Protected Disclosure | Dealt with under other process, e.g. HR procedure/referred to AGS | Transferred to the Department of Justice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 2019 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 1 |
| 2020 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 2021 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 2022 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 2023 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
External consultants have been engaged by both the Department and the Irish Prison Service to assess, investigate and review Protected Disclosures.
The results and recommendations of all finalised investigations were communicated to the Director General, the Head of Internal Audit of the Department of Justice and to the relevant Director in the Irish Prison Service, as appropriate for follow up action on any recommendations made.
The Irish Prison Service Protected Disclosures Annual Reports from 2018 to 2023 can be found at: www.irishprisons.ie/protected-disclosures-policy-2023/
Statistics for 2024 will be published in the 2025 Irish Prison Service Protected Disclosure Annual Report. Since 2023, all statistics are prepared and submitted to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform by 1 March each year in line with the annual reporting requirements of Section 22 of the Protected Disclosures Act.
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