The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath TD, has signed a new order under Section 7 of the Protected Disclosures Act which updates the list of prescribed persons that workers can contact to make external reports of wrongdoing in their sector.
Prescribed persons are generally the heads of public bodies or organisations with regulatory powers within their sector and so can receive and take action on disclosures from workers who do not wish to report suspected wrongdoing internally to their employer or who have already reported to their employer but no action or insufficient action was taken.
This order:
- Consolidates and repeals the 3 previous such orders to simplify access to this information;
- Adds 10 newly Prescribed Persons, as nominated by the relevant Government Departments for each sector;
- Updates the retained list of prescribed persons from the previous orders, removing 2 now defunct organisations and reflecting a number of mergers and reorganisations;
- Brings the various remits of each organisation up to date to reflect any relevant changes, such as expanded responsibilities and updated legislative references.
A categorised version of the list has been published on gov.ie to assist workers in finding the most appropriate prescribed person to report to. This can be accessed here. Minister McGrath said “It is very important that workers feel they have a clear channel available to them to bring forward information about wrongdoing in the workplace as well as the reassurance that they will not suffer adverse consequences as a result.
A comprehensive legal framework for protection of whistleblowers in the public and private sectors has been put in place in Ireland and it stands up very well to international comparison. However, we must always be vigilant to ensure the processes we have in place are up to date and fit for purpose. The recent RTÉ PrimeTime Investigates: Whistleblowers; Fighting to be Heard, is a timely reminder of this.
I am pleased to announce that prescribed persons to whom disclosures can be made have been nominated in the case of an additional 10 public bodies bringing the total number to 110. This list include organisations with responsibility for significant sums of public money and the delivery of vital services including, TUSLA, Sport Ireland and the Oberstown Children's Detention Centre.
It is my intention to further enhance the statutory protections for workers through the transposition next year of the EU Whistleblowing Directive and I look forward to engaging with stakeholders in this regard.”
Notes for Editors
The Protected Disclosures Act protects workers from penalisation for speaking up about wrongdoing in the workplace. The Act provides a range of channels – both internal and external – for workers to make protected disclosures. This ensures that if one channel fails to operate correctly, workers have access to alternative avenues to report their concerns.
Section 7 of the Act provides that a worker can report a relevant wrongdoing to an appropriate person prescribed by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. Prescribed persons tend to be regulatory authorities with oversight powers over a particular sector – for example, HIQA, the Central Bank and the Health & Safety Authority are prescribed persons.
The new order signed by the Minister consolidates and replaces the three previous orders under this section of the Act and updates the list to: add new bodies that have been established since the last order was made in 2016; reflect changes to organisations’ powers and remits as well as to reflect name changes and organisational mergers.
The key changes are as follows:
- 10 new bodies have been added as follows: Sport Ireland, Water Safety Ireland, Pobal, the Western Development Commission, TUSLA, the Regulator of the National Lottery, the Legal Services Regulatory Authority, the Office of the Planning Regulator, the Director of Oberstown Children's Detention Centre and the Personal Injuries Assessment Board.
- 12 bodies have been updated to reflect name changes, mergers and abolitions: The WRC, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, the Residential Tenancies Board, The Registrar of Beneficial Ownership of Companies and Industrial and Provident Societies, The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (Turf Club), the Controller of Intellectual Property, the Insolvency Service of Ireland, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, and the Charities Regulatory Authority have all been updated to reflect mergers and name changes. The Opticians Board and the Dublin Docklands Development Authority have been removed to reflect abolitions.
- 25 bodies have had updates to their remits, generally as a result of updated legislative references or additional legislative responsibilities: The Adoption Authority, SOLAS, Bord na gCon, COMREG, the Commissioners of Irish Lights, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, the Director of Corporate Enforcement, the Data Protection Commission, the National Tourism Development Authority (Fáilte Ireland), the Health and Safety Authority, the Health Insurance Authority, Inland Fisheries Ireland, the Insolvency Service, the Controller of Intellectual Property, the Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority, the Director of Legal Metrology, the listed local authorities, the Registrar of Beneficial Ownership of Companies and Industrial and Provident Societies, the Registrar of Companies, the Registrar of Friendly Societies, the Residential Tenancies Board, the Standards in Public Office Commission, the Teaching Council and Waterways Ireland.
Overall, the new order increases the number of prescribed persons from 102 to 110.