Transparency International Ireland

Lobbying Organisation Transparency International Ireland

Date published 20 May, 2022

Relevant Matter Legislation

Public Policy Area Public Expenditure and Reform

Period 1 Jan, 2022 to 30 Apr, 2022

Specific Details Transparency International Ireland (TI Ireland) wrote to Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath sharing its concerns on the Protected Disclosures Amendment Bill 2022, which aims to transpose Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and Council on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law (EU Whistleblowing Directive) into Irish Law.

Intended results Amendments to the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Bill 2022 that will avoid the reduction of existing protections for Irish whistleblowers and ensure compliance with Article 25.2 of the EU Whistleblowing Directive.

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.

Letter (1)

The letter was sent to Minister McGrath with members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform and Taoiseach by John Devitt on 20 April 2022. The letter is available at https://www.transparency.ie/resources/submissions/2022-letter-minister-michael-mcgrath-protected-disclosures-amendment-bill

Social Media (2-5)

TI Ireland's concerns were raised using social media and directed at Senators as well as members of Dáil Éireann via Twitter. See https://twitter.com/jkdevitt/status/1519573378063114242 and https://twitter.com/Transparency_ie/status/1518878477956657152

Email (6-10)

Emails were sent to the Minister, TDs and Senators to draw attention to TI Ireland concerns over the transposition of the EU Whistleblowing Directive.

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.

Michael McGrath Minister (Department of Public Expenditure and Reform)

John McGuinness TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Mairéad Farrell TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Mick Barry TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Pearse Doherty TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Bernard Durkan TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Steven Matthews TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Jim O'Callaghan TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Neale Richmond TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Peadar Tóibín TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Maria Byrne Senator (Seanad)

Pat Casey Senator (Seanad)

Aidan Davitt Senator (Seanad)

Alice-Mary Higgins Senator (Seanad)

Marie Sherlock Senator (Seanad)

Tom Clonan Senator (Seanad)

Róisín Shorthall TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Paul Gavan Senator (Seanad)

Michael McDowell Senator (Seanad)