The long awaited draft "whistleblowers" legislation
(the Protected Disclosures Bill 2013) has finally been published,
and will no doubt be the subject of much scrutiny and discussion
between employer and employee groups before it is passed. The
Bill follows on from the enactment of The Central Bank (Supervision
and Enforcement) Act 2013 which contains whistle blower protection
for notifications to the Central Bank.
While Ireland was some way behind the UK in enacting general
legislation for the protection of whistleblowers, the time may have
been to its benefit, given that the UK had to amend its legislation
last month to clarify that relevant disclosures would have to be
limited to those made in the public interest. (Prior to this,
employees in the UK who made disclosures about a breach of an
individual employment contract were protected. As such, Irish
employers can take some comfort that the proposed legislation, when
enacted, will not open the floodgates for
