I propose to take Questions Nos. 666 and 667 together.
Section 24 of the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022, inserted Section 14A into the Protected Disclosures Act 2014. Section 14A makes it an offence for any person to hinder, or attempt to hinder, a worker in making a report, penalise, or threaten to penalise, a reporting person, bring vexatious proceedings against a reporting person, breach the confidentiality of a reporting person, provide false information or fail to comply with the requirement in section 6(3), to establish, maintain and operate internal reporting channels and procedures referred to in the said section 6(3).
Any person who suspects that an offence has been committed under Section 14A should make a report to An Garda Síochána.
The Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitisation is the lead Department on protected disclosure legislation and provides guidance on all protected disclosure processes.
Section 22(1) of the Protected Disclosures Act provides that every public body, prescribed person and the Protected Disclosures Commissioner shall provide information to the Minister for Public Expenditure on the number of the reports of wrongdoing received in the preceding calendar year. My Department complies with Department of Public Expenditure’s reporting requirements, which does not include reporting under Section 14A of the Act.
