Dr. Lauren Kierans:

To clarify, if a person alleges that he or she has been dismissed wholly or mainly for having made a protected disclosure, they can be awarded up to five years' gross remuneration. The cap on two years' remuneration for ordinary unfair dismissal does not apply. However, it is arguable that this is, unfortunately, a limitation. If we look to the UK, to claims under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, on which the Irish law was originally modelled, there is no cap on the amount of compensation that can be awarded. The EU whistleblowers directive requires full compensation to be made. The Workplace Relations Act 2015 requires that awards that are just and equitable are also afforded. Therefore, a cap in compensation would not necessarily be considered to be just and equitable, or arguably full compensation. I would purport for the removal of a cap on any compensation. Further, the heads of Bill propose for the extension of protection against penalisation to other forms of individuals such as volunteers, trainees and those who were penalised in the course of making a protected disclosure when it comes to their attention in the recruitment process. It is proposed that there will be a cap on compensation for them of €13,000 for claims relating to penalisation. I would argue that this is not full compensation. It is not clear, from my perspective, where the figure of €13,000 is arising. I may need to look into it further.