Department of Justice spent almost €900k on external reviews of protected disclosures

Garda protected disclosures include allegations about faulty holsters which were implicated in two shootings of gardaí. Picture: iStock

The Department of Justice has spent nearly €900,000 on external experts for protected disclosures in the last seven years.

The handling of disclosures by the Department has come under scrutiny in the wake of claims by garda whistleblowers.

Figures supplied to Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly show that the Department has received some 32 reports this year and that external assistance was needed in various cases since 2019.

In his response, justice minister Jim O'Callaghan said his department "fully complies with the protected disclosure reporting requirements established by the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation".

"I am informed external contractors were engaged in the assessment, investigation, and review of reports during that period at a cost of €894,566. Follow-up is ongoing in relation to three reports received by my Department in 2025.

"To date in 2026, 32 reports of alleged wrongdoing received by the Minister have been transmitted directly to the Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner (OPDC) in accordance with the Protected Disclosures Act."

"All reports transmitted by the Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner to my department, and all reports received under my department’s Internal Reporting Channel, undergo assessment in accordance with the act. The assessment may conclude that follow-up is required as defined in the act."

Mr O'Callaghan told Mr Farrelly that 22 of those reports this year led to correspondence being transmitted from the Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner to the Department for assessment and 15 were addressed to the Department's internal reporting channel for assessment.

The Department of Justice said that its report on protected disclosures for this year will be published by March.

Garda holsters 

The department's handling of disclosures has been under scrutiny in recent weeks following an RTÉ documentary about garda whistleblowers. 

A protected disclosure on behalf of Detective Superintendent Brian O'Reilly was sent to Ms McEntee as then justice minister in September 2023. 

The disclosure included allegations about faulty holsters and the storage and use of faulty ammunition.

She forwarded the disclosure to the Office of the Protected Disclosures Commission (OPDC), which referred it to the secretary general of the Department of Justice, Oonagh McPhillips.

However, Ms McEntee subsequently referred the disclosure back to An Garda Síochána.

Speaking in New York in September, Ms McEntee insisted that she had always followed whistleblower legislation.

However, the Irish Examiner earlier this month revealed that another member of the force had received an apology for their identity being revealed by the department just weeks before Mr O'Reilly's file was sent on.

In correspondence from the department in March 2023, seen by the Irish Examiner, a senior civil servant said the inclusion of an email attachment was "a regrettable oversight" and "an unfortunate case of human error and that the information was not shared for any other reason".

The email also says that outside agencies had been asked to delete the information. The garda later complained to the Data Protection Commissioner, which saw the Department of Justice write to him again on December 8, 2023.

In its correspondence, the department said the "relevant unit has been provided with guidance on redacting documents and advised that a second person should always check outgoing correspondence where an assurance of confidentiality has been provided, to prevent future breaches of this nature".

• Paul Hosford, Deputy Political Editor