The Irish Whistleblower Protection Law

In its implementation of the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive into national law, Ireland has overhauled whistleblower protection legislation provided under the existing Protected Disclosures Act 2014.

The new Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022 transposes the EU Directive 2019/1937 by significantly expanding its scope to include whistleblower protection for volunteers, shareholders, board members and job applicants for the first time. The Bill also now applies to all public and private sector organisations with 50 or more employees that will be required to implement formal channels for employees to make protected disclosures.

For organisations with between 50 and 249 employees the Bill provides an extension to the deadline to 17th December 2023 to establish these formal channels

The newly amended Bill introduces several important changes that strengthens existing whistleblower protection.

• The Bill introduces an obligation on all private organisations with 50 employees or more to establish formal reporting channels to make protected disclosures.
• The new legislation extends the types of individuals protected under the Bill to include volunteers, board members, shareholders, unpaid trainees and job applicants.
• Whistleblower protection is strengthened through reversal of the burden of proof in civil proceedings concerning allegations of retaliation against whistleblowers; expansion of interim relief measures to include acts of retaliation beyond dismissal; and criminal penalties for acts of retaliation.
• The Bill requires enhanced data collection and publication provisions as regards the numbers of protected disclosures made.

While the Bill transposes the minimum standards set out under EU Directive, the new Irish protected Disclosures Act also provides a responsibility f or enforcement and support of the new requirements.

The requirements for organisations to establish formal reporting channels and procedures under the new Bill will be monitored and enforced by the Inspectorate of the Workplace Relations Commission. Employers will be required to acknowledge, follow-up and give feedback in respect of all reports received through these channels within the minimum timeframes outlined under the EU Directive.

In addition, a new Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner will be established in the Office of the Ombudsman to support the operation of the new legislation. When a whistleblower chooses to report externally to any of the prescribed persons listed under the Act, the Commissioner will direct protected disclosures to the most appropriate body when it is unclear which body is responsible to ensure all protected disclosures will be dealt with appropriately.

With this enactment of the legislation, the new Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner will be expected to commence operations by end of 2022.