Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The amendment proposes the insertion of additional subsections into section 21. The latter requires that every public body shall establish and maintain procedures for dealing with protected disclosures. There are two elements to the proposed new subjection (3) put forward by the Senators. The first would require the adoption by public bodies of guidelines pursuant to the operation of the Act and the second is a requirement that all workers in public bodies should be made aware of the protected disclosures legislation. As it stands, in section 21(2) the Bill provides that public bodies will be required to provide their workers with written information regarding the procedures they are required to establish and maintain under the section 21(1). In the context of the dissemination of such rules and procedures in common practice within the Irish public service - I do not envisage any difficulty with the requirements being fully discharged in the latter - it is also anticipated that steps taken by public bodies to provide workers with information of the nature envisaged under section 21(2) will, of necessity, refer to the protected disclosures legislation. It should also be noted that the requirement to inform the employees of public bodies of those written procedures also extends to former employees.

In terms of advising workers generally of the existence of the legislation and as I have already indicated, my Department is currently giving detailed consideration to the most appropriate and effective means of disseminating that information broadly across all workplaces once the legislation has been enacted. It is expected that the code of practice being developed by the Labour Relations Commission, in conjunction with employer and employee representatives, would provide a significant vehicle for the dissemination of such information.

The second part of the amendment would involve the insertion of a new subsection (4) into section 21. The proposal put forward envisages a role for the Standards in Public Office Commission in the preparation of guidelines relating to the operation of legislation. As previously indicated, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation has requested that the Labour Relations Commission prepare a code of practice in respect of the practical day-to-day operation of the legislation. I have had dealings with all sorts of public bodies. The Labour Relations Commission is the organisation best equipped - and obviously the most rational choice - to perform this task. With due respect to the Clerk of the Dáil, the Clerk of the Seanad, the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Ceann Comhairle and the Ombudsman, the Standards in Public Office Commission does not possess as well-defined a skill-set as the Labour Relations Commission in the context of doing this job. I am of the view that the Labour Relations Commission is better placed to take on the task.