Prison claims dominate justice whistleblowing

Whistleblowing allegations from current and former prison officers dominated protected disclosures received by the Department of Justice last year.

The department’s protected disclosures annual report for 2018 reveals that 11 of the 13 cases it received related to the Irish Prison Service.

The Irish Examiner has documented on a number of occasions the scale of protected disclosures emanating from within the IPS. The department said that, in addition to the 11 prison cases, that the IPS itself received a further four protected disclosures in 2018 — bringing the total number of cases involving prisons last year to 15.

The cases detailed in the annual report do not include three protected disclosures that were sent directly to the minister for justice, which is also provided for in law. The three cases related to An Garda Síochána, two of them from current employees of the organisation and one from an anonymous source.

Two were forwarded, following internal examination, to Gsoc, which last May reported that it received 24 protected disclosures from gardaí during 2018.

A summary of the 13 cases detailed in the department’s annual report show:

The report said that two of the six cases that had been assessed were deemed not to be protected disclosures. In addition, there were two investigations of protected disclosures that were received in 2016 that were still ongoing by the end of 2018.

The department said that in 2018 it engaged the services of independent external assessors and investigators under the Office of Government Procurement Framework for Protected Disclosures.

“The external assessor determines if the disclosure meets the requirements of the Protected Disclosure Act,” the report said.

“Where the requirements are met, the disclosure will be sent for an external investigation. The discloser will be informed of the findings of the assessment or the investigation process.”

In relation to disclosures received prior to 2018, the report said that regardless of the outcome of the assessment, the process could highlight “an issue of concern or compliance” and a recommendation could follow.

Two investigations in relation to cases received in 2017 were concluded in 2018. It said both of these related to the IPS and that recommendations were made. The report said:

The Irish Prison Service has indicated that the recommendations made have been implemented or are in the process of being implemented

It said the IPS introduced its own Protected Disclosures Policy in 2018 and that it received four such cases during the year.

The report said the department continued to work with Transparency International Ireland on its policy and training. It said a dedicated confidential email [e-mail] was introduced in early 2019.

In a separate report, on protected disclosures sent directly to the minster for justice, the department said that three cases were received in 2018, all relating to An Garda Síochána.

Two were from employees and one was anonymous. It said that up to the end of 2018, the policing division of the department dealt with protected disclosures sent directly to the minister.

The report said that in December 2018, the minister, in consultation with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the attorney general, established a panel of counsel to assess the cases. The panel’s role was to “provide advice” on options available to the minister.

It said the panel commenced its work that December with the intention that “initially 17 active cases” would be assessed. Of the three disclosures received in 2018, two were assessed by external counsel with recommendations to refer the cases to Gsoc.

A third disclosure was referred to the Garda Commissioner, prior to the establishment of a panel of external counsel, for investigation. It said that a report from the gardaí advised that there was “no substance” to the allegations made.