Mr. Justice Alan Mahon:

I will give my understanding of the effect of the amendment in the 2014 Act. It may be in section 20, although I am not quite certain. Anyway, it specifically mentions the Ombudsman (Defence Forces) Act and the amendments says the penalisation of a whistleblower can be investigated by the ombudsman. I interpret that as the 2014 Act giving to the 2004 Act an additional category of complaint, namely, penalisation of a whistleblower. I do not think any other interpretation would be reasonable. Accordingly, that is subject to the 12-month limit, though it would be slightly more difficult to see circumstances where somebody would not be aware he or she is being penalised at a fairly early stage. At the same time, one could imagine circumstances where it might not become clear. The 12 months from the date of the event or the date the person becomes aware of the event applies to all categories of complaint that would come to my office.