Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Norris for his words. I was not here for the Order of Business and if anyone said any nice words about me, I thank them.

I am advised that an opinion can be formed on a belief which would encompass actual knowledge of suspicion. Given that an opinion can be formed on a suspicion, the addition of the word "suspicion" is not required and this has been considered by the Parliamentary Counsel. It was debated in the other House as well. Accordingly, as it is considered that the addition of the words in the amendments would not broaden the existing meaning of the provision nor would the amendments assist in further clarifying the test which would determine whether the protection under this measure for a person making a report in good faith would apply, I am not disposed to accept these amendments.

On the broader issue as to whether we have composite legislation on whistleblowing covering all aspects of life or whether we have specific provisions dealing with particular issues, the Government had a considerable debate on this a number of years ago. I was in the Cabinet when it had this debate and the strong advice of the then Attorney General, which was confirmed by the subsequent one, was that it would be preferable and probably more sustainable from a legal point of view if specific provisions were included in different legislation dealing with a myriad of aspects of Irish life. It was believed that if the composite legislation was challenged and found to be deficient, it would have ramifications across the system. It was also believed that it would be far better if a provision was specifically tailored to meet the issue in particular areas and that if a challenge was mounted, the provision would be more robust because it would have been included by legislators to deal with the issue.

Senator Bacik listed a myriad of legislation. I will give a longer list because it shows that it would be difficult to address all the issues in a composite Bill. Those issues range from the Protections for Persons Reporting Child Abuse Act 1998, the Competition Act 2002, the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and the Garda Síochána Act 2005 under which whistleblowing would be completely different from that under the Competition Act 2002 or the Health, Safety and Welfare at Work Act 2005. I also mention the Communications Regulation (Amendment) Act 2007, the Consumer Protection Act 2007, the Medical Practitioners Act 2007, the Chemicals Act 2008, the Labour Services (Amendment) Act 2009, the National Asset Management Agency Act 2009, the Charities Act 2009 and the Inland Fisheries Act 2010.

A number of Bills being prepared contain specific whistleblowers protection, including the Employment Agency Regulation Bill 2009, the Employment Law Compliance Bill 2008 and the Local Government (Dublin Mayor and Regional Authority) Bill 2010.