The rules that protect whistleblowers in Ireland have
been adapted to implement the EU Whistleblowing Directive in full.
What has changed?
Background
In 2014, the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 (the 2014 Act) was
introduced to protect whistleblowers from dismissal or
penalisation. In 2019, the EU Whistleblower Directive was published
(see here for detail on its implementation status
across the EU).
The Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act (the 2022 Act), which
was recently signed into law, introduces the changes needed to
align Irish law with the Directive. It is not yet in effect but the
final steps to implement it are expected now that the Irish
parliament, the Dáil, has resumed sitting after the summer
recess. This article outlines in brief some of the key changes; for
a full guide to the new rules, see here.
