Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senators Boyhan and Davitt for raising the issue. The Protected Disclosures Act 2014 protects workers from penalisation if they report concerns about wrongdoing or potential wrongdoing in the workplace. The term "worker" is defined in section 3 of the Act as being an individual who is or was an employee, a contractor, an agency worker, a work experience student pursuant to a training course or a trainee. The Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Bill before us provides, under section 4, for a significant expansion of the definition of worker to include individuals who are shareholders, members of the administrative management or supervisory body of an undertaking, volunteers, as well as individuals who acquire information on a relevant wrongdoing during a recruitment process or any other pre-contractual negotiation. This expansion of the definition of worker means that local authority elected members will be protected under the legislation, once enacted. Specifically, this is by virtue of paragraph (f). It covers an individual who is or was a member of the administrative, management or supervisory body of an undertaking and includes non-executive members. The Bill provides a broad definition of "worker" in line with the provisions of the EU whistleblowing directive. It is not appropriate to narrow this definition by listing specific entities. Therefore, I do not propose to accept the amendments but I am happy to confirm, on the record of the House, that local authority members are in scope and will benefit from the protections of the legislation, once enacted.