Charities account for highest number of whistleblower complaints
John Devitt, Chief Executive at Transparency International.
Charities and non-governmental organisations accounted for the highest number of whistleblower allegations made to an anti-corruption group.
Transparency International Ireland said the health sector generated the second-highest number of whistleblower complaints to its helpline.
Publishing its latest Speak Up Report this morning, the Irish section of the international organisation, said that regulatory breaches, retaliation against whistleblowers and fraud/false accounting were the top three complaints being made.
Those areas accounted for 30%, 24% and 17.5% of calls respectively.
Other issues that people were making claims about included mismanagement of public funds (14%), abuse/neglect (6%) and bullying/harassment (5%). Some 2% of callers alleged sexual assault.
The group analysed almost 570 callers to its Speak Up Helpline from 2017 to the beginning of 2020.
A breakdown of the sectors where the whistleblowers worked were:
- Charities/NGOs - 13% (25 people);
- Health – 12% (23);
- Education – 11% (20);
- Social Services – 10% (19);
- Public Administration – 7% (13);
- Banking & Finance – 5% (10);
- Retail – 4% (8);
- Police – 4% (8);
- Construction – 3% (5);
- Local Government – 3% (5).
“It would be misleading to suggest that the increasing number of calls from any particular sector points to bigger problems,” said John Devitt, Chief Executive of TI Ireland.
“Indeed, it might suggest that those sectors are more proactive in promoting whistleblowing or that staff feel safer in speaking up.”
He said no employment sector was immune from wrongdoing and said every employer “has a duty to see that their workers can speak up without fear of reprisal and that timely action is taken in response to concerns”.
The report, marking International Corruption Day, said the biggest volume of calls alleging whistleblower retaliation came from the Health sector.
It said almost 40% of Healthcare whistleblowers who contacted the Speak up Helpline between 2018 and 2020 reported that they were penalised after raising concerns of wrongdoing.
The next highest was the police sector (38%) and Banking & Finance (30%). The average across the sectors was 24%.
The report also points to “poor outcomes” for workers taking cases before the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) or the Labour Court, with only 8% of cases filed before them during the reporting period being successful for the applicant.
It said the total share of callers who identified their location as Dublin increased significantly over previous years, while there was a substantial decrease in the number of callers who came from Cork. It said that not all callers felt comfortable disclosing their location.
The Speak Up Helpline handled more calls and general requests for information and referral, with Education the sector most concerned (9%), followed by Police (8.5%) and Health (8%).
TI said the helpline has offered free support to over 1,700 clients including witnesses of wrongdoing and whistleblowers since 2011.
It said that since the enactment of the Protected Disclosures Act in 2014, TI Ireland has seen a 123% increase in the number of calls to its Helpline from whistleblowers.
The report said 28 organisations joined its Integrity at Work initiative which provides practical support and guidance to employers and regulators in developing ‘speak up’ systems, as well as signposting workers to TI Ireland’s Speak Up Helpline.
These organisations included 12 agencies sponsored by the Department of Justice and Equality and three Institutes of Technology sponsored by the Department of Education and Skills.
Although the report did not cover the recent publication of the Hamilton Review of structures and strategies to prevent economic crime and corruption, it summarised its submission to the Review.
“TI Ireland has welcomed the recommendations of the Hamilton Review which reflect most of TI Ireland’s own proposals including the creation of an Advisory Council on economic crime and corruption and a Joint Agency Task Force,” it said.
“The Review did not recommend the creation of an independent National Anti-Corruption Bureau with significant ring-fenced resources which TI Ireland has suggested will be necessary if sensitive political corruption cases are to be effectively investigated.”
Among the recommendations arising from TI Ireland’s report is the reintroduction of the Public Sector Standards Bill 2015 which would have replaced the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) with a Public Sectors Standards Commissioner and required the disclosure of additional financial interests by office holders and public representatives.
The report also calls for proactive intelligence sharing among law enforcement agencies to detect corruption and economic crime, in addition to new education and awareness-raising measures on the risks and costs associated with corruption.
