217. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation whether he will bring forward amendments to the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 to prohibit the transmission of a report, or of information capable of identifying the reporting person, to the organisation or persons the report concerns; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [75265/26]

Section 2A of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, which was substantively amended in 2022, provides for a statutory review as follows:

The Minister shall -

(a) not later than the end of the period of 5 years beginning on the passing of the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022, commence a review of the operation of this Act, and

(b) not more than 12 months after the end of the period referred to in paragraph (a), make a report to each House of the Oireachtas of the findings made on the review and the conclusions drawn from those findings.

This section of the Act ensures that a review is commenced in July 2027 at the latest, however, as the Deputy will be aware, the review of the legislation is due to commence in advance of  2027 with a public consultation expected to launch by the end of this year.

All aspects of the operation of the Act may be examined as part of this review and any recommendations to amend the legislation emanating from this engagement will be considered in full.

Full details of the public consultation are expected to be published on my Department's website in the coming weeks and the Deputy is encouraged to make proposals in that regard.