Whistleblowers: Jury is still out on legislation

AS Michael Clifford’s extensive report today shows, there was no proper whistleblowing legislation in place during the years of the property bubble.

Had it been, it might have exposed the nefarious practices of some banks in time to prevent the bust that followed.

It is revealing to reflect on the situation regarding whistleblowers in other countries and, perhaps, learn from their failures as well as their successes.

In the US, whistleblowers are valued to the point of being paid. A whistleblower whose information results in a recovery of $1m (€944,395) for the federal government will receive a reward of not less than $100,000.

In the UK, whistleblowing legislation has had mixed results, prompting companies to set up internal mechanisms to deal with whistleblower complaints properly but still not protecting people from being blacklisted.

Ireland’s Protected Disclosure Act is robust in many ways but it has limitations. It does apply to volunteers in the same manner as it does employees, and it offers little protection when a whistleblower reveals activity that is neither criminal nor specified in the legislation.

While its provisions are regarded as among the strongest anywhere, it may be years before we learn how robust it is in practice because it has not yet been tested in the courts. In that sense, the jury is still out.