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ARTICLE · 12 OCTOBER 2011

Whistleblowing

Eversheds O'Donnell Sweeney
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A whistleblower is a person who raises a concern about wrongdoing in an organisation. The misconduct can be a violation of the law or internal rules/ regulations or in some cases, for example where there is an occurrence of fraud or corruption, a direct threat to public interest.

IrelandEmployment and HR
David Fagan
David Fagan

A whistleblower is a person who raises a concern about wrongdoing in an organisation. The misconduct can be a violation of the law or internal rules/ regulations or in some cases, for example where there is an occurrence of fraud or corruption, a direct threat to public interest.

The term "whistleblower" originates from the actions of British police officers, who would blow their whistles when they noticed the commission of a crime.

Whistleblowers have been responsible for exposing abuse, corruption and unethical wrongdoing and with the recent increase in corporate and political scandals, it may be useful for employers to have whistleblowing mechanisms in place.

The legislation protecting whistleblowers in Ireland is piecemeal. In 1999, the Labour Party unsuccessfully attempted to introduce the Whistleblowers Protection Bill 1999, which was modelled on the UK Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998. The Bill proceeded to the Second Stage but was ultimately dropped

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