Vital to protect whistleblowers

That the Government is to proceed with legislation to protect so-called “whistleblowers” who seek to expose wrong-doing in either the public or private sectors, is to be welcomed.

Such laws are prevalent in other jurisdictions, and moves to implement such laws here would represent and require a significant cultural shift. While many companies already have policies in relation to whistleblowing, many employees do not have faith in them due to lack of statutory protections and, because of this, the turn-a blind-eye and say-nothing-lads culture continues. In the current economic climate, people are reluctant to rock the boat — particularly after what happened to Louise Bayliss, the advocacy worker who exposed the fact that female patients were being moved to ‘lock-up’ units in St Brendan’s, Grangegorman over the Christmas period due to staff shortages. It was only after immense political pressure was brought to bear on the situation that she was reinstated to her position.

The new laws must seek to protect workers from being subject to “occupational detriment” and also provide immunity against civil and criminal liability. What is unclear is how the system will work. Legal remedies can only be applied after the fact. If employees are dismissed even though they reported in good faith, as in the case of Louise Bayliss, their only recourse is unfair dismissal procedures which hardly ever result in the person getting their job back.