351. Deputy Luke 'Ming' Flanagan asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will ensure that when a communication in respect of wrongdoing is received in his Department, it will be deemed to have come to his attention; if he will confirm that, while he is not expected to personally exercise the function of dealing with wrongdoing, he is responsible for ensuring that said function is exercised; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17100/14]

I refer the Deputy to the Ministers and Secretaries Acts 1924 to 2011 which set out the respective responsibilities of Ministers and officials in relation to the performance of administrative functions that are assigned to Departments. The Deputy will also wish to note the initiatives in the Programme for Government dealing with the formal accountability relationship between Ministers and Civil Servants in their Departments and the Protected Disclosures Bill 2013 which is currently before the Oireachtas. My Department has procedures in place to deal with correspondence received in my office and these procedures are reviewed from time to time.