Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

While one cannot be fired as a volunteer, one can be blacklisted or given the cold shoulder. If one were an employee, one could take a case for constructive or unfair dismissal. It is an issue. I will reflect on what the Minister has said before I come back on Report Stage. There are many major charitable organisations, including Leader companies, which have voluntary directors. They might be pushed out. I also wonder about the position of elected representatives or officeholders who may be blacklisted because they blow the whistle.

Again, they are not in the same type of employer-employee relationship and the difficulties in that regard which is addressed in the legislation, but they can, if they speak out of both sides of their mouths, be subjected to blacklisting. For example, even though this legislation follows on from the recommendations of the Mahon tribunal, it would be of no practical benefit to the county councillor who gave evidence of bribery at that tribunal, except in so far as it introduces a broader culture of whistleblowing. One of the amendments I have tabled for Report Stage proposes the inclusion in this legislation of officeholders of State under the Constitution and Members of the Dáil and Seanad. While these are not people who would be seeking compensation in terms of an infringement of the Employment Acts they are people who might well be looking for protection within a party or council structure. Councillors who blow the whistle in respect of wrongdoing could be blacklisted by officials and suffer appalling consequences for doing so. While their relationship is not an employer-employee relationship it is very similar. While I may, perhaps, be broadening this out too much, the only hope such people would have is that this legislation will change the culture and thereby help them.