Protected disclosures

The Protected Disclosures Act 2014 requires public bodies to publish an annual report setting out the number of protected disclosures made the previous year, and the actions that were taken.

The Act protects employees after they raise concerns over potential wrongdoing in the workplace.

How are disclosures made to the Commission?

There are a number of ways in which you can make a disclosure under the Act – for example, to your employer or, sometimes, to an external “prescribed” person.

The Head of Ethics and Lobbying Regulation (referred to in the protected disclosure regulations as the Secretary to the Standards in Public Office Commission) is a prescribed person under the Act (Statutory Instrument 339 of 2014, as amended by Statutory Instrument 448 of 2015).

What kind of disclosures can be made?

You can make disclosures to the Head of Ethics and Lobbying Regulation on matters relating to the supervision of:

• The Ethics in Public Office Acts 1995 and 2001 – including investigations and reports on possible breaches of the Acts
• The Electoral Acts 1992 to 2014, such as:
  • The disclosure of donations to political parties, members of the Oireachtas, members of the European Parliament, and candidates at elections to the Dáil, Seanad and the European Parliament
  • The obligations of third parties
  • The obligations of corporate donors
  • The monitoring of election candidates’ and political parties’ spending limits
  • The monitoring of political party use of Exchequer funding
• The Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Act 2014 (No 6 of 2014) in regard to political parties’ and independents’ use of parliamentary activities allowances