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Protected Disclosures Act: Information for Citizens and Public Bodies
From Department of Public Expenditure and Reform
Published on
Last updated on
The Protected Disclosures Act 2014 as amended by the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022, protects workers in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors from retaliation if they speak up about wrongdoing in the workplace. Workers can report wrongdoing internally to their employer or externally to a third party, such as a prescribed person. Persons who make protected disclosures (sometimes referred to as “whistleblowers”) are protected by law , meaning they should not be treated unfairly or lose their job because they have made a protected disclosure.
It is strongly recommended that persons considering making a protected disclosure seek appropriate advice before doing so.
Information about what wrongdoings can be reported as protected disclosures, how to make a protected disclosure and how to obtain protection from penalisation for having made a protected disclosure can be found at Citizens Information.
In addition, Transparency International Ireland run a free Speak Up Helpline and Legal Advice Centre for people who have made or are considering making a protected disclosure.
The Protected Disclosures Act has been amended by the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022.
The new legislation will come into force on 1 January 2023.
The new legislation imposes new requirements on employers in both the public and private sectors and also for prescribed persons. These requirements are summarised here:
If a worker decides to make a protected disclosure to a prescribed person rather than their employer, they must make sure you have chosen the correct person for the wrongdoing they wish to report. To assist in this regard, please refer to the current list of prescribed persons.
The Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022 provides for the establishment of a new Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner.
This Office will become operational when the new legislation commences on 1 January 2023.
Section 21(1) of the Act provides that the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform may issue guidance to public bodies to assist them in the performance of their functions under the Act.
In November 2022, the Minister issued Interim Guidance for public bodies and prescribed persons to assist in establishing the internal and external reporting channels required under the Act.
Directive (EU) 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law was adopted in October 2019. The Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022 gives legal effect to the Directive in Ireland. A public consultation on the implementation of the Directive was carried out in June and July 2020. A Regulatory Impact Assessment on the proposed changes to the legislation was published when the Bill was introduced in February 2022.
A statutory review of the impact and effectiveness of the Act was carried out and published in July 2018. As part of the review process, a public consultation was carried out from August to October 2017 to elicit views regarding the operation of the Act. 25 submissions were received, which informed the findings of the review.
Statutory Review of the Protected Disclosures Act
Four years after enactment, a Statutory Review of the Protected Disclosures Act was carried out. This provided an opportunity to review the effectiveness of the Act and formed part of the suite of measures announced by the government in October 2017 aimed at strengthening Ireland’s response to corruption and white-collar crime.
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