Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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307. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the status of the transposition of EU Directive EU 2019/1937; if he will embark on pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill; and if this will occur in advance of the deadline for the transposition of this directive on 17 December 2021. [21500/21]

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 whistleblowing laws in place, in the form of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, and is considered a leading country in this field - most recently, the International Bar Association rated Ireland joint second in the world for the protections it provides to whistleblowers in a report published in March of this year.

Work on an initial draft of the transposing legislation is at an advanced stage and will be published later in the year. A public consultation on Ireland's approach to the transposition was held last year and elicited some 24 submissions, which have helped inform the development of the legislation. The Summer Legislative session includes provision for pre-legislative scrutiny and publication of the Bill, ahead of the deadline of 17 December 2021.