Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

These amendments delete the existing sections 155 and 156 along with the existing Schedule 2 relating to whistleblowers and protected disclosures. This follows advices received and detailed consultation with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, which has policy responsibility for this area.

The reason for proceeding in this way is that these matters were dealt with centrally under the Protected Disclosures Bill 2014, which has been enacted since it was envisaged these measures would be in this Bill. The Protected Disclosures Act was not in place when the Legal Services Regulation Bill was originally published in 2011. It has been decided to rely on the new and comprehensive whistleblower protections in line with the Government decision to discontinue a sector-by-sector approach to whistleblowing as well as the need to ensure no confusion or crosscutting between parallel regimes. The 2014 Act is understood to be comprehensive for these purposes.

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