New legislation aimed at protecting employees who "blow the whistle" on illegality or malpractice in their companies has been proposed by the Labour Party.
The Whistleblowers Protection Bill, 1999, published yesterday, would provide protection against dismissal or other sanction for any employee reporting dubious practices to a range of regulatory authorities. Individuals who report exceptionally serious matters to TDs or journalists would also be protected but would be expected, in the first instance, to go to the regulatory bodies.
They would not be afforded a safeguard if, for example, they went to a newspaper with information in return for monetary gain. Speaking at the publication of the Bill, Labour's spokesman on enterprise, trade and employment, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said employees who made disclosures "in good faith" would be protected by the law from civil liability and discrimination in their employment, up to and including dismissal.
Citing examples of workers in the beef industry who were forced to hold clandestine meetings in the middle of the night with politicians in an attempt to draw attention to the abuse of taxpayers' money, Mr Rabbitte said there was an obligation on the State to ensure protection for individuals who reported such information.
The chairman of the party's Policy Development Commission, Senator Joe Costello, said the enactment of the Bill, which will be taken in Labour's Private Members' Time in the Dail at a future date, was essential if public confidence was to be restored in business and public life.
Under the Bill, a wide range of regulatory bodies have been mentioned as appropriate agencies to which disclosures would be made. These include the Central Bank, the Garda, the Ombudsman, the Revenue Commissioners, the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Health and Safety Authority.
The type of information provided for under the Bill would include disclosures supporting an allegation that a criminal offence had been, was being or was likely to be committed; that a person was failing to comply with legal obligation; that health and safety was endangered; that the environment was being damaged; or that a miscarriage of justice had occurred.
There was also an obligation on the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, to accept the principle of the Bill. She had instituted 13 inquiries regarding low standards in high places in certain Irish businesses.
"While the Tanaiste believes that mere mortals such as us should not be privy to the details of these inquiries, she has alluded to her shock at the level of abuse of company law her inquiries have unearthed," he said.
The effectiveness of the new Company Law Enforcement Office, also announced yesterday, would be "fundamentally defective" unless implemented in tandem with the Labour Party's Bill, he added.
The new legislation would, if enacted, begin a process of changing the culture of secrecy that surrounded public and business life.