Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 4:

In page 8, line 35, after "obligation" to insert "or obligation arising from a professional code or workplace code of practice".

The legislation envisages scenarios where there are failures to comply with legal obligations. My amendment proposes to extend this coverage to take into account breaches of professional or workplace codes of practices, which would amount to a softer law. As the legislation is expressed, what would happen to a person exposed to deliberate wrongdoing with regard to adherence to a code of practice for the governance of State bodies, for instance, or, say, a code of conduct for councillors? How would that person be protected? The public, customers and employers often rely on non-legally binding codes or guidelines to protect them from risk and harmful practices such as mismanagement, conflicts of interest, the misuse of charitable donations, improper staff recruitment and breach of public sector codes.

That is the intention of the amendment.