Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 9:

In page 11, to delete lines 27 to 29.

The effect of this amendment is to delete subsection 10(3)(d) of the Bill as published. Subsection 10(1) sets out the circumstances under which a disclosure made to a person other than an employer, a prescribed person or a Minister will attract the protections of the Bill. One of the circumstances listed is where, in all the circumstances of the case, it is reasonable for the worker to make the disclosure.
Subsection 10(3) sets out a number of matters to which particular regard must be had in determining whether it was reasonable for the worker to make the disclosure. Subsection 10(3)(d) specifies as one of these matters the question of whether the disclosure was made in breach of a duty of confidentiality owed by the worker's employer to any other person. As many whistleblowing reports will, by their very nature, involve a breach of a duty, disclosures made under section 10 may not qualify as protected disclosures on account of this element of the reasonableness test. Since this provision is, therefore, likely to discourage the use of the legislation, as a breach of this duty may arise or be perceived to arise, I am proposing to remove subsection 10(3)(d). As a result of this change, while the test of reasonableness required under subsection 10(1) may take matters such as breaches of a duty of confidentiality into account, there will be no specific or mandatory requirement to do so.