Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
QUESTION NO: 435
To ask the Minister for Defence the number of serving and former Air Corps whistle-blowers who have been placed under surveillance by the State Claims Agency or its agents. [18187/22]
QUESTION NO: 444
To ask the Minister for Defence the number of serving and former Air Corps whistle-blowers who have been placed under surveillance by the Defence Forces. [18185/22]
Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 435 and 444 together.
The conduct of surveillance activities by the Defence Forces is an operational security matter carried out in line with relevant national legislation. The relevant military authorities provide regular assessments, reports and briefings to me, as Minister for Defence, to the Secretary General of the Department of Defence and to the Chief of Staff. These assessments, by their nature, are confidential.
I am informed by the State Claims Agency that they do not comment on individual claims. The Agency’s statutory mandate is to manage claims in such a manner as to ensure that the State’s liability is contained at the lowest achievable level.
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I refer to the following statement by the Minister of Defence “I am informed by the State Claims Agency that they do not comment on individual claims.” The State Claims Agency was not asked to comment on any individual case, they were asked how many whistle-blowers are under surveillance?
Further is the Minister saying that whistle-blowers are a security threat to the state? I believe sexual harassment, bullying misconduct in public office, destroying official reports as well as the harassment & penalisation of whistle-blowers in my opinion present the greatest risk to the state.
The State Claims Agency itself should be investigated for wrongdoing. I ask the Question how many times did the State Claims Agency carry out Health & Safety audits in the Air Corps prior to 2015 and found nothing wrong? It is alleged that they presented an award to the Air Corps for Health & Safety despite the fact that massive Health & Safety failures existed in relation to chemicals at that time!