Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator. Amendment No. 7 removes the 50-employee threshold for employers performing a public contract with a value of more than €3 million. This would mean any employers in this category would be obliged to establish formal internal reporting channels and procedures. I am not accepting this amendment.

As discussed on Committee Stage, the impact of such an amendment needs careful consideration and evaluation to ensure we are not distorting the market for the provision of public services and putting some organisations, especially smaller companies and not-for-profit organisations, at a disadvantage during procurement competitions. I am very concerned that accepting this amendment could have unintended consequences. I will draw the Senator’s attention to section 6(6) of the Act, as amended by this Bill, which, when enacted, will allow the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to set lower thresholds for the establishment of internal channels on certain employers or certain classes of employers. If a business case can be made for applying this to public contracts of a certain value, as proposed by the Senator, this is the best mechanism by which this can be achieved.

I note amendment No. 8 proposes something along these lines. I do not accept this amendment as I think the existing mechanism set out in section 6(6) is sufficient, in particular on account of the requirement to conduct a risk assessment before making such an order.In addition, I remind the Senator that section 6(1) of the Act already provides that a worker can report wrongdoing to the employer regardless of whether said employer has a formal internal reporting channel. I also draw the Senator's attention to section 6(1)(b) of the Act which provides that where a worker reasonably believes that a wrongdoing relates solely or mainly to the conduct of a person other than the worker's employer or to something for which a person other than the worker's employer has legal responsibility, the worker can report to that other person, and if these conditions are met, a worker whose employer has a contract with a public body should be able to raise his or her concerns with that public body if the worker so wishes. Furthermore, it is open to the Minister under section 6(7), as inserted by this Bill, to provide that employers open their reporting channels to persons other than employees. Consideration will be given to doing this in respect of persons and organisations that are contracted by public bodies.

Taking all this into account, I ask the Senator to withdraw her amendments.