In February, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin T.D., announced his intention to enact whistleblowing legislation. To show the Government’s resolve in this regard, the Minister published draft heads (an outline) of what is officially named the Protected Disclosures in the Public Interest Bill 2012.
As the proposed legislation is at a very early stage, we can only give you an idea or flavour of what the Government has in mind.
The objects of the proposed legislation are:
- To promote, in the public interest, the disclosure of information in appropriate circumstances relating to the unlawful conduct or other misconduct of an employer
- To provide procedures in terms of which a worker can in a responsible manner disclose such information
- To protect a worker, whether in the private or public sector, from being subjected to an occupational detriment on account of disclosing in a prescribed manner information relating to unlawful or other misconduct by an employer and
- To make available remedies providing redress for workers who suffer detriment as a consequence of having made a protected disclosure
Some interesting matters that can be gleaned from the draft heads of Bill:
- Anonymous disclosures will not be protected
- The legislation will apply to disclosures relating to impropriety which occurred before the passing of the Act and
- The worker must have a “reasonable belief” that the information concerned shows or tends to show that certain conduct has occurred and has been concealed or is likely to occur and to be concealed. The draft heads specifies a list of conduct which comes within the scope of the legislation, including:-
(a) the commission of a criminal offence
(b) a failure to comply with any legal obligation
(d) a miscarriage of justice
(e) the health and safety of an individual has been, is being or is likely to be endangered - It is sufficient that the impropriety happened in another country and breached the laws of Ireland or of the other country
The full Bill is expected to be published in the second quarter of this year.
To view a more detailed article on the proposed legislation, please click here.
