Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

11 o’clock

I move amendment No. 8:

In page 8, line 25, after "information" to insert "(whether before or after the date of the passing of this Act)".

We are dealing a great range of amendments. The purpose of amendment No. 8 is to provide clarity to the effect that a disclosure made prior to the enactment of this legislation can qualify as a protected disclosure provided that the penalisation, detriment or consequences for making it are subsequent to the enactment of the legislation. On the assumption that Deputies accept this amendment, the provision contained in section 5(9) of the Bill is, on a technical basis, no longer necessary, given the fact that the retrospective intention of the legislation is confirmed and, I hope, made clearer by the amendment. Amendment No. 11 proposes the deletion, therefore, of section 5(9).

A number of further technical amendments arise as a consequence of the acceptance of amendment No. 8. Clearly and logically, it could not be possible for a person to have made a disclosure precisely in accordance with the provisions of the legislation prior to the legislation. I hope Deputies are following me. If the requirement is that, to have a valid disclosure, it must be made in accordance with the legislation even though we want disclosures made prior to the legislation to be in accordance, we need to drop this provision. Therefore, it is necessary to provide the third parties involved in determining whether a protected disclosure was made with the appropriate legal basis to make a determination as to whether a disclosure made before the passing of the legislation was done in a manner specified in the section concerned, which sets out the conditions that need to be met for a disclosure to qualify. This being the case, and I hope it is clear, the term "in accordance with" should be replaced by "in a manner specified in". The remaining amendments encompassed in this group provide this change where it arises in the legislation. They are repetitive, technical changes.

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