Prison service U-turn on protected disclosures

Disclosures have been made by various grades of prison officer, from governor level to recruit officer level. At least one disclosure has been under investigation for more than a year.

A decision by the director general of the Irish Prison Service to suspend investigations into protected disclosures has been reversed, following publication of the decision in the Irish Examiner.

Caron McCaffrey, the director general of the IPS, had instructed legal firms investigating disclosures from within the service to suspend inquiries because the investigations were not deemed to be “essential” at the current time.