The whistleblowers legislation - the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 - lays out clear procedures for Departments to take in respect of protected disclosures. There are three whistleblowers and one in particular made protected disclosures to the Department of Defence and the then Minister, Deputy Coveney, regarding public health concerns at Baldonnel Airport and the workshops at the facility in which people were exposed to toxic chemicals. These were most serious and grave health issues and revelations. The whistleblower concerned was very anxious to ascertain whether the Minister could confirm that he had received his protected disclosure in 2015 and could not get confirmation of that. Indeed he went through the Chief Whip, Deputy Regina Doherty, to get access to the Minister to get him to confirm that he had received the protected disclosure. The texts of his messages to the Chief Whip have been revealed in the Irish Examiner. I pay tribute to Joe Leogue who has written a series of articles on this matter. This is very good investigative journalism.

I thank the Deputy.

It reveals a horror story of what has been going on and demands, at the very least, a proper transparent response from Government.

Okay. Time is up, Deputy.

Under the Act, proper procedures are meant to be in place in the Department of Defence to react to protected disclosures.

The procedures here give the Deputy one minute and he has exceeded that.

Could the Taoiseach publish the procedures of the Department of Defence or could he give me a copy of them? Will he confirm that such procedures are involved?

Can the Taoiseach provide-----

The Health and Safety Authority conducted three inspections of the Air Corps premises at-----

That is not what I asked. I want to know in terms of the procedures within the Department.

I will supply that to the Deputy. The Health and Safety Authority conducted three inspections of the Air Corps premises at Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel. It focused in particular on the control of occupational hygiene hazards in the workplace, including health surveillance issues. The Health and Safety Authority issued its report of inspection to the Air Corps on 21 October 2016. It listed a number of matters that required attention, including risk assessment, health surveillance, the monitoring of employees' actual exposure to particular hazardous substances and the provision and use of personal protective equipment. I am advised that the military authorities responded in writing to the Health and Safety Authority report on 20 December 2016. They indicated that the Air Corps is fully committed to implementing improved safety measures that will protect workers from potential exposure to chemicals and will ensure risks are as low as reasonably practicable. The Air Corps has implemented an improvement plan that will be conducted over eight phases. The first phase commenced in September 2016 and has a completion date of December 2017. I know that a number of articles were published in the Irish Examiner on 23 and 24 January last.

That is not what I am talking about.

They referred to claims made by whistleblowers.

On a point of order, I asked a specific question about legislation under the Order of Business.

I said "Yes" already. I said I would give the Deputy the procedures.

I asked about the procedures that are meant to be put in place by any Government.

Yes.

I know all of what the Taoiseach read out.

All right. Okay. Fine.

I simply asked the Taoiseach-----

I said "Yes" to that at the beginning.

-----why the Government Chief Whip and the former Minister for Defence-----

All right. Deputy, it is fine. Thank you.

-----are silent on the issue of the lack of response to a whistleblower-----

The Deputy asked me for a report.

-----to confirm to him that his protected disclosure has been received by the Minister. That is my point. That is the only question I asked.

Okay. The Taoiseach has answered it.

He has not answered it, a Cheann Comhairle, and-----

I said "Yes".

-----I think you might have the authority to ask him to answer this specific question.

No, no.

Will the Taoiseach give a commitment to publish the procedures?

Deputy Martin, let us be clear. Resume your seat.

This is supposed to be about promised legislation.

First, I do not have the authority to instruct the Taoiseach to do anything.

I did not say you had the authority to instruct him.

Okay. Second, the Taoiseach answered your question. He said "Yes". "Yes" was the answer.

To what?

To your question.

No. This is a very important point.

No, no. You asked for a document and he said he would-----

Let us not get smart about it.

Deputy Martin has been put back in his box.

The Taoiseach has-----

Excuse me.

I am being very serious. This is a serious matter.

I am being very serious as well. Please resume your seat.

I just asked a simple question, a Cheann Comhairle. Are the procedures in place and will they be published?

As I understand it, you asked the Taoiseach-----

He said "Yes".

-----for a copy of a document. He said "Yes". Is that correct?

Do they exist?

Deputy Martin asked me for a copy of the procedures followed by the Air Corps here. I said "Yes" in response to his question.

No, I did not ask for the procedures.

Is the Deputy asking me a different question now?

We have spent 15 minutes on this. Will we have injury time?

I asked whether the Department of Defence has added procedures in respect of protected disclosures.

This is supposed to be about promised legislation.

If so, will those procedures be published and will the Taoiseach forward a copy of them to me?

Yes, I will.

It is as simple as that.

I said "Yes" to that the first time.

I call Deputy Adams.