Guidance for making a Protected Disclosure

The Protected Disclosures Act 2014 provides certain protections for workers who report information about potential wrongdoing encountered in the course of their work.

The FSAI welcomes protected disclosures from workers relating to potential wrongdoing concerning food hygiene, food safety, or food fraud matters that come to their attention in a work-related context. 

The Chief Executive Officer of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) is the prescribed person under the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 to receive information from workers relating to the regulation, enforcement, and monitoring of food safety in Ireland. All protected disclosure reports are treated seriously and with utmost confidentiality.

If you provide information to the FSAI under the framework of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, you will be afforded a range of important legal protections. For example, safeguarding your identity and protection from any action or treatment that places you at a disadvantage for raising concerns about wrongdoing in the workplace. 

A protected disclosure is defined in the 2014 Protected Disclosures Act (“the 2014 Act”) as a disclosure of information which, in the reasonable belief of the worker, tends to show one or more relevant wrongdoings, which came to the attention of the worker in connection with the worker’s employment and is disclosed in the manner outlined in the 2014 Act. This is sometimes referred to as “whistleblowing”.

A ‘worker’ includes:

• employees
• agency workers
• contractors
• trainees
• volunteers
• board members
• shareholders
• and job applicants.

If you are a consumer and have experienced unfit food, poor hygiene standards, misleading food labelling or any act that is in breach of food law when buying food or eating out, you can make a complaint to us filling in the online complaint form and we will refer it for follow-up.  Alternatively, you can email our Advice Line at info@fsai.ie or call on 0818 33 66 77.

You can make a protected disclosure to Food Safety Authority of Ireland by:

• By emailing: protecteddisclosure@fsai.ie  
• By phoning the dedicated line on 01 858 5525 (access to this voicemail system is restricted solely to persons designated to receive and handle reports).
• or, by writing to:
  Protected Disclosures,
  Food Safety Authority of Ireland
  The Exchange
  Georges Dock, IFSC
  Dublin 1, D01 P2V6,

When making a disclosure, we encourage you to provide as much specific, information as possible. This will enable us to accurately and fully assess the details disclosed.  Details of the type of information that should be included can be found in our Protected Disclosures Policy & Procedure.

Anonymous Disclosures

The FSAI accepts anonymous disclosures of information. Anonymous reports will be followed up to the greatest extent possible. However, it may not be possible to fully assess and follow-up on an anonymous report. Anonymous disclosures can be changed at any stage by providing your name and contact details.

The FSAI treats all disclosures seriously and with utmost confidentiality. All disclosures are fully considered and, to the extent that is possible from the information provided, appropriate follow-up action taken.

Acknowledgement

Reports will be acknowledged with 7 days of receipt. 

Exceptions apply where:

• you specifically request that no acknowledgement is issued; or
• we reasonably believe that issuing an acknowledgement could compromise the protection of your identity, in which case we will not send an acknowledgement.

Assessment

The assessment will determine whether;

• A wrongdoing has occurred;
• The criteria for the report to be treated as a protected disclosure has been met;
• If the matters are not within the scope of the FSAI remit, they will be referred to the relevant prescribed person, or to the Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner, as appropriate. We will notify you if your report is transmitted onwards and the reason(s) why.

Follow up 

• Where there is prima facie evidence of potential wrongdoing, the authority shall determine the appropriate follow-up action, having regard to our statutory powers and functions, and to the nature and seriousness of the matter.

Feedback

Feedback will be provided within a reasonable time and no later than 3 months from acknowledgement. In some cases, this period may be extended to 6 months due to the nature or complexity of the matter. You will be informed if this occurs.

While feedback will be provided, the FSAI is subject to legal obligations under food legislation to maintain confidentiality in relation to investigations, any actions taken, their outcome, and any follow-up actions. This is necessary to protect the integrity of these processes, and as a result, feedback may be limited to general information.

If you are thinking about making a protected disclosure, or are unsure if the law applies to your situation, it’s a good idea to get advice before making a report.

Transparency International Ireland operates a free Speak-Up Helpline that offers support and referral advice (which may include referral to legal advice) for workers who have reported or plan to report wrongdoing. More information on how to speak up safely is available at https://www.transparency.ie/helpline

The FSAI takes data protection seriously. Any personal data provided in a Protected Disclosure is handled in line with the FSAI’s obligations under data protection legislation (this includes the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Data Protection Act 2018, etc.). Such information is used solely for the purposes of assessing, investigating and responding to the disclosure.

The FSAI strictly limits access to personal data to those who need it to process the disclosure and to apply appropriate security measures. The data is only kept until its purpose is served and is securely destroyed after that point. Where possible, personal data is anonymised and/or redacted to protect the identity of the discloser and those individuals who may have been mentioned in the disclosure.

If you have any questions regarding data protection and Protected Disclosures, please contact the FSAI’s Data Protection Officer (DPO@fsai.ie). 

Information provided in a Protected Disclosure is not accessible under Freedom of Information legislation. More specifically, such legislation does not apply to records about Protected Disclosures when those records are held by a public body, such as the FSAI, because it received and handled the disclosure. The rule applies no matter when the records were created. 

If you have any questions regarding Freedom of Information and Protected Disclosures, please contact the FSAI’s Freedom of Information team (FOI@fsai.ie).