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

The issue here is that the date is set in Article 26.2 of the EU whistleblowing directive. For countries that avail of the derogation, the date of 17 December 2023 is enshrined in that. It is the case we have at this point signalled to employers that fall within this category of between 50 and 250 employees that this is the intended date for this provision to come into effect. Given we have availed of that derogation, we do not have discretion to vary the date in the directive of 17 December 2023. It is a reasonable lead-in period. Some lead-in period is needed. It can be argued employers could do it in less time but some of these are still quite small businesses and they are facing a challenging time. It is a significant change but a necessary one. We very much support putting in these formal channels and imposing these obligations on employers. Giving them that lead-in period is appropriate.