Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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1045.To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the purpose of the speakup@justice.ie email account; the date upon which this email address was first publicised; the number of emails in the inbox of that account; the number of emails in the outbox of that account; and the frequency with which the email account is monitored.[33796/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I can advise the Deputy that the speakup@justice.ie email account was introduced in 2019 to provide a secure and confidential reporting channel for workers who wish to make protected disclosure reports to my Department. The account is also used to communicate with relevant parties and bodies such as the Protected Disclosures Commissioner.

It serves as a confidential communication channel for protected disclosure correspondence, and to encourage staff to raise concerns by confidential email. It was first published in the Department’s Protected Disclosures Annual Report for 2019 on 30 June 2020. My Department has had an internal Protected Disclosures Policy since 2015 to publicise and encourage "speaking up".

The inbox is managed by the Protected Disclosures Manager who is the designated person responsible for handling protected disclosure reports in accordance with the legislation and is trained in the requirements of the Protected Disclosures Act to receive, handle and follow up on reports.

The inbox is managed by the Protected Disclosures Manager who is the designated person responsible for handling protected disclosure reports in accordance with the legislation. The Protected Disclosures Manager is trained in the requirements of the Protected Disclosures Act to receive, handle and follow up on reports.

Protected disclosures and related queries are also made through other channels and replied to by same. Relevant correspondence concerning such queries is copied to speakup@justice.ie and does not require a reply from the account.

Emails to speakup@justice.ie are monitored daily during normal working hours. This account is used to deal with all correspondence about disclosures. Since its establishment in 2019. The number of emails received is 739, and the number of emails sent out of the account is 443 as of 5 September 2024. The mailbox sends an automated acknowledgement to every email received. It should be noted that some correspondence does not require a response.

Protected disclosure reports can also be made by writing to the Department or the Minister for Justice/Minister of State.

Details of the procedures on how to make a report are published on the Department’s website at: www.gov.ie/en/organisation-information/7f5e0-department-of-justice-protected-disclosures/

Protected disclosure reports can also be made by writing to the Department or the Minister for Justice/Minister of State.