Michael Clifford: Whistleblowers justified in fearing reprisal for speaking out

A unique investigation is taking place into allegations that officials failed to protect a whistleblower from penalisation

Now retired prison officer Noel McGree has experience in the operation of the Protected Disclosures Act that will inevitably be used a case study. File picture: Moya Nolan

The whistleblower is still getting it in the neck. Transparency International Ireland, on Wednesday, published its latest Speak Up report on the experiences of whistleblowers. It found that between 2018 and 2020 a quarter of those who spoke up about wrongdoing suffered some form of retaliation. The problem was at its worst in the health sector where 40% of whistleblowers were subjected to some form of retribution.

This sort of stuff was supposed to be outlawed in the 2014 Protected Disclosures Act. The law came into effect around the time the Maurice McCabe case was a major public issue. One element of the McCabe case that captured the public imagination was the extent of the retaliation carried out against him within An Garda Síochána for pointing out wrongdoing.