More than two dozen protected disclosures from whistleblowers alleging wrongdoing or setting out concerns in relation to State fishing agency Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) have been sent to the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment since 2022.
The department told the Dáil Public Accounts Committee last week it had commissioned seven external investigations into such whistleblower complaints. In two cases all allegations were upheld and in two cases they were rejected. In another case, “multiple allegations” were not upheld while one was substantiated.
The department said that, as of the end of 2025, it had received 26 disclosures relating to IFI.
In material provided to the committee by its secretary general, Oonagh Buckley, the department said there had already been a number of external reviews and investigations carried out in respect of IFI in recent years. This included a review by a senior counsel in 2022 and an analysis of governance conducted by consultants EY in 2023.
Ms Buckley said that Minister of State for Fisheries Timmy Dooley had written to the IFI board last September to signal that another independent review would be carried out “once a new chief executive officer has been appointed and has been embedded in the agency”.
The department said it had completed the processing of 22 protected disclosures submitted to it regarding IFI since 2022, with four remaining to be finalised.
“Between 2022 and 2025, the department has initiated seven investigations by independent external investigators into protected disclosures relating to IFI, of which six investigation reports have been concluded, with one remaining in progress.”
The department said that two investigation reports were completed in 2023, with none of the allegations upheld and no further follow-up action required.
It said two investigation reports were completed in 2024/25 with all allegations upheld and further follow-up actions required. It said the department was “progressing all of these with IFI and other relevant entities as appropriate”.
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It said two investigation reports concluded in 2024/25, “with multiple allegations not upheld, one allegation being upheld and some matters transferred to IFI for further follow-up”. The department said it had concluded the follow-up action with IFI.
The department said one investigation initiated in 2025 remained in progress.
It did not provide details of the protected disclosures. It said that disclosures of wrongdoing received by the department were processed in accordance with the provisions of legislation covering this area introduced in 2014 and in line with its own protected disclosures policy.
The Irish Times reported last week that an official report on one protected disclosure had been referred to the Garda Commissioner by the department.
Official documents provided to the committee indicated that the investigation found, in part, IFI had knowingly allowed an individual to produce invalid insurance documentation to An Garda Síochána.
IFI chairman Tom Collins told the department in July last year that it “strongly contests” this conclusion of the report on the protected disclosure made by a staff member.
It is understood that the protected disclosure related to an incident in which a staff member was involved in a crash while driving a vehicle that had been leased by IFI.
The chairman of the committee, Sinn Féin’s John Brady, said the submission of 26 protected disclosures to the parent department spoke volumes about IFI and “should set off alarm bells”. He said while there had been a number of reviews into the organisation over recent years, some questions remained unanswered and further reforms needed to be put in place.