Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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117. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the status of the transposition into Irish legislation of the EU whistleblowing directive; when the findings of the consultation process which concluded in July 2020 will be published; when the directive will be fully transposed here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26682/20]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The EU formally adopted Directive 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law ("the Whistleblowing Directive") on 23 October 2019. All Member States, including Ireland, have until 17 December 2021 to transpose the Directive into national law. Ireland is one of just 10 EU Member States to already have comprehensive whistleblower protection laws in place in the form of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014. Transposition of the Directive will require amendments to the 2014 Act.

As the Deputy is aware, my Department concluded a public consultation on the transposition of the Directive on 10 July. Some 24 submissions were received from a wide range of both Irish and international interested parties and these have been published on the public consultation page on the gov.ie website.

The consultation will feed into the process of transposing the Directive, on which work is ongoing in my Department. I hope to publish draft legislation in early 2021 with a view to achieving enactment and full transposition by the EU's deadline of 17 December 2021.