Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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283. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his views on the findings of a report (details supplied); the steps being taken to move Ireland from ‘limited redress’ to full compensation status as required by the EU Whistleblowing Directive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50742/26]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Protected Disclosures Act 2014 was amended by the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022 to incorporate several key changes, including the full transposition of the EU 'Whistleblower Protection Directive' (Directive (EU) 2019/1937). The European Commission’s formal assessment of the completeness of Ireland’s transposition is positive and the Commission's conformity assessment is expected sometime in 2027.

Statutory protection from penalisation is provided primarily by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), which can make orders for restitution and the payment of up to 5 years’ salary in compensation. Cases can be appealed to the Labour Court. Alternatively, a worker can sue for damages in court, where there is no maximum award of compensation. The Act is understood to be in full alignment with the requirements of the Directive.

The Deputy may, however, be interested to note the provisions under Section 2A of the Protected Disclosures Act, which states that:

"The Minister shall—

(a) not later than the end of the period of 5 years beginning on the date of the passing of the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022 commence a review of the operation of this Act, and

(b) not more than 12 months after the end of the period referred to in paragraph (a) make a report to each House of the Oireachtas of the findings made on the review and the conclusions drawn from those findings."

This section of the Act ensures that a review is commenced in July 2027 at the latest, but does not preclude me, as Minister, from commencing a review before the end of the 5-year period and I recently confirmed that a statutory review of the amended Act will commence with a public consultation in late 2026.

I would encourage the Deputy to participate in the consultation and provide any feedback on the legislation regarding compensation status or any other issue. All issues raised during the public consultation will be taken into consideration and may feed into any recommendations emanating from the report on the review in due course.

My Department will be publishing notification of and information regarding the commencement of the public consultation on its website.