An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-22
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Ken O'Flynn (II), Cork North-Central

There is a growing call for a public inquiry into the handling of protected disclosures in An Garda Síochána and I support that. However, I believe it must go much further. The concerns around protected disclosures seem to extend to the public service, An Garda Síochána, the Prison Service, the HSE, financial services and beyond. I raised this matter previously in the Dáil, and my party raised it in a Private Members' Bill, to strengthen protected disclosure protections for whistleblowers, which was rejected by the Government.
The Minister will be aware, as it was mentioned on the floor of the House previously, Mr. Ciarán Kenneally, a former Tusla employee submitted a second protected disclosure in November 2025, following on from confirmation by the Data Protection Commission that Tusla had unlawfully processed his personal data. While the disclosure was acknowledged, he is still waiting for the investigation to be commenced more than a year after making that protected disclosure. Will the Government now commit to the holding of a comprehensive public inquiry into the operation of protected disclosures?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-22