A senior figure in the DoI has told a committee he finds it “personally very disappointing” that staff feel the need to use whistleblowing protection.
Jeffrey Robinson was giving evidence to the Select Committee on whistleblowing policy implementation alongside Helen Goldie, the department’s designated whistleblowing officer.
Mr Robinson said he would “like an environment where everyone feels confident and completely enabled”.
“I recognise that we’re not quite there, but that is an aspiration,” he said.
Concerns
The admission follows concerns raised by committee members about whether staff fear reprisals when speaking up.
Gary Clueit MLC suggested that the number of health and safety-related whistleblowing cases indicates “within the organisation, there are people, there are managers or people who want to turn a blind eye”.
“In a environment where everybody is on the same page, you report an issue, there should be no detriment to it,” he said.
Mrs Goldie explained that protecting anonymity while investigating concerns can be “sometimes quite complex”.
“If the individual came forward and you want to keep anonymity, and you also have an issue which needs to be addressed, there are various options then to look at how can this be investigated,” she said.