Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Yes. I wish to ask a particular question of the Minister about section 13 of the original Act I introduced in 2014, which protects whistleblowers against unlawful detriment by virtue or consequential to making a protected disclosure. The legal advice I have is that the consequence of the amendments the Minister has now tabled is a reversal of the burden of proof such that the employer would not bear the burden of showing that there is no causal connection between the making of a protected disclosure and the suffering of a detriment. The Minister, during the debate on Second Stage, assured the House that this would not be the case, but my legal advice is that it is the actual result of the amendments before us. I would like the Minister to be very clear with the House that it is not his intention to reverse the particular focus of section 13 of the existing Act and to reverse the burden of proof in the way I have described.

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