Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Yes, it should be Nos. 10 and 11.
As I was saying, I am of the view that it would be of assistance if I began by addressing amendment No. 18. This amendment will bring to an end the separate arrangements put in place in the Garda Síochána Act in respect of members of the force. Amendment No. 18 relates to section 19 of the Bill as it currently stands. As originally envisaged, section 19 proposed to amend section 124 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 - which allows for the making of regulations relating to confidential reports by members of the force - by adding a further subsection requiring the Minister for Justice and Equality to make new regulations to provide for the making of protected disclosures by officers in accordance with the provisions of the protected disclosures legislation and for the putting in place of redress arrangements for officers. This is the status quo. The effect of that to which I refer would have been to retain the confidential reporting arrangement and the redress provisions relating to members of the force within the ambit of the Act in question. I am now proposing to replace section 19 in its entirety and to make provision for a completely new regime.
The proposed new section 19(1) will provide for the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC - under section 7 of the Bill before us - to be prescribed as a suitable body to accept disclosures. As a result, GSOC will be the new recipient of disclosures from gardaí. The sub-committee will be aware that the former Minister for Justice and Equality announced his intentions in respect of this matter some time ago. These intentions have been reiterated by the new Minister. From the perspective of mainstreaming, I ask the sub-committee to note the proposed new subsections (1)(b) and (2) of section 19. The purpose of the latter is to repeal the existing arrangements within An Garda Síochána in respect of confidential reporting and to revoke the associated regulations, which, as the sub-committee will recall, provide for matters such as the acceptance of disclosures by a confidential recipient, so-called. The effect of this will be to terminate all separate and distinct arrangements relating to confidential reporting within An Garda Síochána and to bring all members of the force fully within the ambit of the legislation with which we are dealing. In the context of the findings of the Guerin report in respect of the operations of the confidential recipient for whistleblowers, this is a significant and appropriate reform. Acceptance of amendment No. 18 will involve removing the existing section 19 and replacing it with a new section.
Amendment No. 10 relates to unfair dismissals. As matters currently stand, the effect of section 11(1)(c) would be that if a person who is currently excluded from the Unfair Dismissals Act is dismissed for having made a protected disclosure, he or she may make a claim under that Act. Two categories of person remain excluded from this provision - namely, those listed under subsections (2)(e) and (2)(f) of the Unfair Dismissals Act. I refer here, of course, to members of the Defence Forces and An Garda Síochána. Arrangements in respect of the Defence Forces will be dealt with under section 20 of the Bill. However, in order to ensure that members of An Garda Síochána will be entitled to access the Unfair Dismissals Acts in the context of protected disclosures, all that is required is a reference in the Bill to section 2(1)(e) of the Unfair Dismissals Act, so the reference "(f) to (k)" will now become a reference to "(e) to (k)". This will ensure that An Garda Síochána will be brought within the ambit of the Unfair Dismissals Act for the purposes of protected disclosures. The effect of the change to which I refer will be to allow members of the force to make claims under the Unfair Dismissals Act in respect of dismissals in the wake of the making of protected disclosures.
Amendment No. 11 relates to access to the standard industrial dispute resolution mechanisms. The purpose of section 12(4), as it currently stands, is to exclude members of the Defence Forces and An Garda Síochána from the possibility of accessing standard industrial relations resolution mechanisms such as the Rights Commissioner service. It is now proposed that members of An Garda Síochána will have access to those mechanisms for the purposes of making claims of penalisation following the making of protected disclosures. It is therefore proposed to reverse the exclusion relating to gardaí in this regard. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to delete the phrase "or (e)" from section 12(4). The effect of this will be to allow members of the force access to normal industrial resolution mechanisms such as the Rights Commissioner service.
Amendments Nos. 13 and 14 are minor in nature and they arise as a consequence of amendment No. 18. One of the original intentions behind the existing section 19 was to insert a new section 124A into the Garda Síochána Act 2005 in order to provide for the making for new regulations under that Act in respect of the making of protected disclosures by members of the force in accordance with the provisions of the Protected Disclosures Bill and for the securing of redress for such members if they were penalised for having made such disclosures. On foot of the evidence relating to the operation of the confidential recipient regime, it is not now proposed to put in place any power which allows for a separate regulation to be made in respect of the making of protected disclosures by members of An Garda Síochána. As amendment No. 18 proposes to repeal section 124 of the Garda Síochána Act, the reference in section 13(2)(iv) to "section 124A of the Garda Síochána Act 2005" will no longer be required. This deletion - and the necessary consequential tidying up - is effected by amendments Nos. 13 and 14.
I hope I have set out the position fairly clearly. Should the sub-committee be prepared to accept amendment No. 18, the effect of which will be to end the separate and unique arrangements relating to An Garda Síochána in respect of whistleblowing and replace the existing section 19 in its entirety, then acceptance of amendments Nos. 10, 11, 13 and 14 would logically follow. As amendments Nos. 19, 20 and 22 each refer to section 19 as it currently stands, they will fall.

The proposal is simple. Finally and rightly, we should bring an Garda Síochána into the normal regime, with the proper body to receive whistleblowing reports being GSOC and with members of the Garda having exactly the same redress mechanisms as any other worker in the public or private sphere.