The vast majority of private companies in Ireland have no protected disclosure policy in place, despite a new law pending which would make such whistleblower procedures a mandatory requirement.
Nearly seven in 10 companies have taken no steps to put in place a disclosure channel despite the new law, named the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Bill, which is expected to pass through the Dáil ahead of its imminent summer recess.
Despite this, HR workers at just under 40% of Irish organisations have experienced whistleblowing scenarios within the past five years, according to a new survey of the sector by law firm Mason Hayes Curran.
Meanwhile, a fifth of the organisations which do have whistleblowing policies in place do not provide for the anonymity of those making the disclosures.
While whistleblowing legislation for the public sector has been in place in Ireland since 2014, the new bill is the first attempt at bringing its private counterpart up to speed in terms of protected disclosures.
“Prior to this legislation the private sector had had no obligation to have a policy in place to aid whistleblowers,” Elizabeth Ryan, a partner with MHC, said. She added that the new bill is “quite prescriptive”.
Ms Ryan said:
She said the new law, if passed, will serve to “harmonise protection and the approach to breaches of EU law”.
Ms Ryan said that “just because someone didn’t have a policy in place doesn’t mean they didn’t deal with protected disclosures in their own manner”. She...
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