Government Operations committee  The one thing that makes a whistle-blower vulnerable, more than anything else, is the lack of response from their employer. If their employer does not act on the disclosure and colleagues of the whistle-blower observe a lack of action, they will assume that the person who has spo

Government Operations committee  This is a new initiative, which we designed, aimed at getting commitment from employers across the public, private, and non-profit sectors to respond and act upon reports made to them and to ensure that people don't suffer as a consequence of reporting. We have around 30 organi

Government Operations committee  Yes, we're more than happy to send you data that we're collecting through our helpline and legal advice centre. So far, we've found that more men are reporting than women, and that might be because they are working in centres where there is a higher risk of wrongdoing. We're find

Government Operations committee  Yes, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in Ireland is responsible for governing this data. We're helping them to do that, and we're helping monitor the experience of individual whistle-blowers from different government departments. I'm more than happy to send you inf

Government Operations committee  It's for job reinstatement pending the outcome of a hearing at the Workplace Relations Commission. The circuit court isn't making a determination on the outcome of the case. It's simply stating that the worker—the applicant in this case—has a case to be heard before the Workplace

Government Operations committee  When I say three-quarters, I mean there have been six applications so far through the Irish courts. Four have been successful and two unsuccessful. They were based in large part because the court determined in four instances that there was no protected disclosure made.

Government Operations committee  We know from survey data in the U.K., Ireland, and the U.S. that over 90% of workers will normally report inside their organization. As Tom said, people want to be given the opportunity to report through line management and through the relevant channels internally before they fee

Government Operations committee  In the U.K., a whistle-blower has to show that they are not only reporting a crime, for example, but that it's in the public interest to report that crime. In Ireland, rather than introduce a public interest test, we made it clear that only those disclosures not related directl

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks again to the committee for your invitation. It's a privilege to address you again. I don't have much more to add to my earlier testimony to the committee. Perhaps I can remind the committee of some of the key features of the Irish legislation

Government Operations committee  Yes. The Protected Disclosures Act is due to be reviewed again this year, three years after it was originally enacted. I just want to make it clear as well that the Protected Disclosures Act covers both public and private sector workers, and those in the non-profit sector, too. I

Government Operations committee  Sure, okay. I think one flaw in the legislation, as I understand it, is that it is restricted to protecting workers in the Canadian public service or in crown-owned companies. This leaves private sector workers and those working in the non-profit sector unprotected. The fact als

Government Operations committee  The Irish Protected Disclosures Act, under section 23, prohibits an employer from forcing an employee to sign a gagging clause. It's very clear, irrespective of what. There are either exceptions for those sharing information that might be related or have an impact on national sec

Government Operations committee  If there's one measure you can take to change culture, it's to create one single standard that employers and employees have to meet when making disclosures. Having one single, simple strong law in place is better than having 20 on the statute box. That's the approach the Irish go

Government Operations committee  We've seen a 150% to 200% increase in calls to our helpline, which provides access to legal advice for whistle-blowers since the legislation here was introduced. I guess the most important feature or impact of the legislation, which I didn't get to in my presentation, is the soli

Government Operations committee  Now the distinction that, perhaps, we'd make, and with the call for endless opportunity—