Transparency International Ireland

Lobbying Organisation Transparency International Ireland

Date published 06 Sep, 2018

Relevant Matter Legislation

Public Policy Area Public Expenditure and Reform

Period 1 May, 2018 to 31 Aug, 2018

Specific Details Lobbying to prevent the weakening of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014

Intended results To prevent the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation from significantly weakening whistleblowing safeguards in Ireland.

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity John Devitt

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? No

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Email (11-20)

Emails highlighted the risk that whistleblowing safeguards would be weakened by Ireland's transposition of the Trade Secrets Directive through the Trade Secrets Regulation (SI 188/2018) https://dbei.gov.ie/en/Legislation/SI-No-188-of-2018.html

Letter (1)

Letter sent to Minister Humphreys urged her to amend the EU Protection of Trade Secrets Regulation (SI 188). https://www.transparency.ie/sites/default/files/18.07.03_minister_heather_humphreys_whistleblowing.pdf

Phone call (11-20)

Calls were made to TDs to draw their attention to the amendment.

Social Media (2-5)

Social media posts were shared to highlight TI Ireland's concerns about the amendment

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Heather Humphreys Minister (Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation)

Billy Kelleher TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Pearse Doherty TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Maurice Quinlivan TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Seán Fleming TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Paschal Donohoe Minister (Department of Public Expenditure and Reform)

Patrick O'Donovan Minister of State (Department of Public Expenditure and Reform)

Róisín Shortall TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Brendan Howlin TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Clare Daly TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Catherine Murphy TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Charles Flanagan Minister (Department of Justice and Equality)

Joan Collins TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Tommy Broughan TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)