Protected Disclosures (Whistleblowing)
Written in plain language for general understanding. This is educational content, not legal advice. Based on Irish Acts of the Oireachtas, statutory instruments, and official guidance.
Irish National Law
What is this right?
If you report wrongdoing at work — a crime, a risk to health or safety, environmental damage, misuse of public funds, or a breach of EU law — you are a whistleblower and the law protects you from retaliation.
A protected disclosure (also called a "relevant wrongdoing") can include:
- Criminal offences
- Failure to comply with a legal obligation
- Miscarriages of justice
- Danger to health and safety
- Damage to the environment
- Unlawful or improper use of public funds
- Oppressive, discriminatory, or grossly negligent acts by a public body
- Breaches of EU law (added by the 2022 Amendment Act, transposing the EU Whistleblower Directive)
- Concealment or destruction of evidence of any of the above
You do not need to prove the wrongdoing happened — a reasonable belief based on information available to you is enough.
When does it apply?
- You are a worker, employee, contractor, trainee, volunteer, shareholder, board member, or job applicant.
- There is no minimum service period — protection applies from day one.
- You can disclose to your employer, a prescribed person (such as the WRC, HIQA, the Environmental Protection Agency, or the Central Bank), or in certain circumstances, to the public (including the media).
- Since the 2022 Amendment, organisations with 50 or more employees must have internal reporting channels and procedures.
What should you do?
- Report through your employer's internal channel first if safe to do so — check your employee handbook.
- If internal reporting is unsafe or ineffective, report to a prescribed person (listed in S.I. No. 367/2020).
- Keep detailed records — what you saw, when, who was involved, and copies of any documents.
- If you are penalised (dismissed, demoted, harassed), you can complain to the WRC within 6 months. Compensation for penalisation can be up to 5 years' pay.
- You may also seek interim relief from the Circuit Court to prevent dismissal while your case is heard.
What should you NOT do?
- Don't stay silent out of fear — the law specifically protects you from retaliation, and the 2022 Act reversed the burden of proof so your employer must show any adverse treatment was not linked to your disclosure.
- Don't breach confidentiality unnecessarily — disclose through proper channels first, and stick to the facts.
- Don't make a disclosure you know to be false — knowingly false reports are not protected and can be a criminal offence.
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