I am sure the Ceann Comhairle will acknowledge the passing of our former colleague and Minister, Joe Walsh. Our thoughts on this, the day of his funeral, are with his wife, Marie, and his family. I know there will be time again to recognise his immense contribution to Irish public life.

A senior civil servant has submitted a dossier to the Committee of Public Accounts and to members of the committee under the new Protected Disclosures Act 2014. The allegations reported to be contained within the dossier are serious and they deserve to be treated as such. While I understand the Taoiseach may be constrained in commenting on the specific allegations, it is important that we discuss the timeline of events since the allegations were first made a number of years ago. Will he confirm that the allegations contained in the dossier were originally referred to the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation, the Revenue Commissioners and the tribunals that were in place at the time in 2005? Will he also confirm again to the House the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation's statement this morning that the full dossier as presented to the Committee of Public Accounts has been referred to the appropriate authorities today? Will he outline which authorities received the most up-to-date dossier under the current disclosure?

I would like on behalf of the Government to express our sympathy to the wife and family of the late Joe Walsh.

I know, a Cheann Comhairle, that we will have an opportunity for expressions of sympathy at a later date. At a time when farmers are blockading meat plants I am sure the spirit of the late Joe Walsh will be looking on benignly in that he had been there before. He was a man for whom I had great admiration and with whom I had a very good friendship over many years. We will deal appropriately with this at a later time.

In response to the issue raised by Deputy Calleary, this is the first whistleblower to produce documentation under the protected disclosures legislation, which is a major piece of reform that I very much welcome and in respect of which the whistleblower must be protected. The Deputy asked if the matter was first referred to the agencies in 2005. The answer to that question is, "Yes". In respect of the witness statement, that was requested originally by the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation. It has now been cleared by the Department and the Minister and has been sent to the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation, as requested by the whistleblower in the first instance.

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. I welcome the protected disclosures legislation. We all do. This is its first case. It will be interesting to see how it is treated. I would like to raise a couple of issues. Can the Taoiseach confirm if the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, met with the civil servant involved prior to the submission in the past few days of the current file? I note the Taoiseach's reference to his notes. Has he discussed this matter with the Minister, Deputy Bruton, since it first arose last Thursday at the Committee of Public Accounts? Given the serious allegations in regard to the management of this information within the Department, has the Taoiseach sought a formal meeting with the Minister, Deputy Bruton, or officials from his Department in regard to the handling of this file?

No, the Minister, Deputy Bruton, did not meet with the whistleblower. The Minister issued a statement saying he was willing to meet the whistleblower, to which I understand the whistleblower has responded indicating that he would be glad to do so. I have not seen the statement from the whistleblower but I understand that is what was said and I hope that can be so.

I was briefed last Saturday by the Minister, Deputy Bruton, on the timeline in respect of the preparation of the witness statement and on the fact that work had been delayed owing to retirements, that that work was ongoing and would be released soon. It has now been released.