Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will look into it. I am keen that we have as much transferability as possible across the civil and public service and also the wider public sector. That is important.

On the whistleblower legislation, I will be bringing forward new legislative proposals in this area in the coming months. A review is needed and some changes are required. An EU directive on whistleblowing was adopted in October 2019 and we have until December of this year to transpose it into our national laws. A public consultation on the areas of the directive where Ireland has discretion took place last year, closing in July. A total of 24 submissions were received as part of that process and they will inform the approach to be taken in the transposition of the directive. My intention is to bring forward the legislation as early as I possibly can in order that we can engage in pre-legislative scrutiny. There are important issues around protected disclosures that we need to look at afresh. The legislation is seven years old and we must learn from our experience over that period of time to see how we can improve and strengthen it. We want an environment across the public service where we are open to whistleblowers making information available without any fear of recrimination or consequences. People still feel reluctant in many cases to challenge the system and bring forward information. I will be engaging with the Chairman and the committee in the months ahead in regard to the legislation on protected disclosures.