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

I move amendment No. 11:

In page 17, to delete lines 11 to 15 and substitute the following: “(ii) in paragraph (b)(i), by the substitution of “in the case of a disclosure made to a person prescribed under subsection (2)(a), that the relevant wrongdoing” for “that the relevant wrongdoing”,”.

Amendment No. 11 provides for the retention of the "substantially true" test for making a report to a prescribed person under section 7 of the principal Act. This was proposed under recommendation 28 of the pre-legislative scrutiny report. I have considered the legal arguments made in this regard by the committee with the Attorney General and we are in agreement that retaining this provision as it stands in the 2014 Act provides a stronger protection than is required under the directive. Therefore, and in accordance with the non-regression clause at Article 25 of the directive, the conditions in the 2014 Act will remain unchanged if this amendment is accepted.

Amendments Nos. 12 to 15, inclusive, are technical amendments to tidy up the numbering of section 7 of the principal Act, as amended, arising from the repeal of section 7(3) by section 3 of the Bill. We are accepting the committee's view that the removal of the word "substantially" would have weakened the Bill.