Confusion over law on exposing wrongdoing

CONFUSION over the new whistleblowing legislation means workers lack the confidence to report wrongdoing within their workplace, trade unions have claimed.

The Criminal Law Act 2011 was fast-tracked through the Dáil over the summer in order to help authorities weed out any criminality in the financial sector which may have been perpetrated prior to the economic collapse.

The legislation refers to wrongdoing in a number of areas including company law, banking, money laundering and “financial terrorism”, theft and fraud, bribery and corruption and competition and consumer protection.