Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy will be aware, the programme for Government made a clear commitment to the introduction of whistleblower protection legislation. In this regard, my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, published the Protected Disclosures Bill in July 2013. It is anticipated that the legislation will be enacted during this Dáil term. The Bill has as its main objective the protection of workers against reprisals in circumstances where they make a disclosure of information relating to wrongdoing in the workplace. It will have application in all sectors of the economy, including the Defence Forces. The Bill provides for a stepped disclosure regime in which a number of distinct disclosure channels are available, internal, regulatory and external, which the worker can access to acquire important employment protections.

Three specific forms of protection are provided for in the legislation which will also apply to all members of the Defence Forces. These protections are protection from the retributive actions of an employer; protection from civil liability; and protection from victimisation by a third party. In a situation where an employer penalises an employee for having made a protected disclosure, the Bill provides for access to appropriate redress mechanisms. For most workers, this involves making a claim for redress through the normal industrial dispute resolution mechanisms, namely, through a rights commissioner or the Labour Court.

In the case of the Defence Forces, section 114 of the Defence Acts provides for an internal redress mechanism where a member of the Defence Forces thinks he or she has been wronged in any matter. This system provides for the internal investigation of a complaint at various levels in the organisation up to and including the Chief of Staff. In addition, the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces provides an independent external redress mechanism for members of the Defence Forces. Under the new Protected Disclosures Bill, either or both of these mechanisms can be used where members allege penalisation for making a protected disclosure. The Bill specifically provides that members of the Defence Forces can make a complaint directly to the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces where they consider they have been penalised for having made a protected disclosure. They are not required to go through the internal redress system.

I am confident that the provisions included in the Bill, once enacted, will copperfasten the safety and protection of whistleblowers across all sectors in the State, including the Defence Forces. I am satisfied also that the Office of the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces works extremely well and that there can be no valid allegation of any nature other than that the current ombudsman deals objectively and fairly with all complaints that come before him.

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