Protected Disclosures

The Protected Disclosures Act 2014, as amended by the Protected Disclosures Act 2022 (the Act), enables workers to raise a concern regarding potential wrongdoing in the workplace by ensuring that safeguards exist should reprisals be taken against them.

As per section 3 of Act, the term “worker” means an individual working in the private or public sector who acquired information on relevant wrongdoings in a work-related context. It includes employees, contractors, trainees, agency staff, former employees, volunteers and interns.

A worker may choose to report internally to their employer or, if certain conditions are satisfied, a worker can choose to report externally to a prescribed person.

The Act requires that all public sector bodies must have internal channels for their workers to report wrongdoing. The Act also requires all prescribed persons to have external channels for workers in the sectors they regulate to report wrongdoing.

The LSRA is committed to creating a workplace culture that encourages the making of protected disclosures and that provides the necessary protections for disclosers.

If you are employed by the LSRA, you may wish to refer to the Internal LSRA Protected Disclosures Policy which is available to all employees. The purpose of the LSRA’s internal Protected Disclosures Policy is to encourage and facilitate avenues for workers to raise concerns within the workplace of the LSRA so that appropriate action can be taken.

Any LRSA worker is entitled to raise concerns or issues or to disclose information without fear of penalisation or the threat of less favourable treatment, discrimination or disadvantage.

The LSRA has prepared an External Protected Disclosures Policy.

The purpose of this policy is to set out the LSRA’s procedure for dealing with protected disclosures received by the Chief Executive of the LSRA as a prescribed person listed in the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 (Disclosure to Prescribed Persons) Order 2020, as amended.

The Chief Executive of the LSRA has been prescribed under the Act, to receive protected disclosures in respect of the following:

All matters relating to the regulation of the provision of legal services by legal practitioners in the State, including the maintenance and improvement of standards, the establishment and maintenance of the Roll of Practising Barristers and the registers of Legal Partnerships, Limited Liability Partnerships and Multi-Disciplinary Practices, and the investigation of complaints against legal practitioners as provided for by the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 (No.65 of 2015).

For more information, please see the LSRA’s External Protected Disclosures Policy.

Section 22 of the Act requires the publication of a report by public bodies no later than 31 March each year confirming that the public body, has in place, internal and external reporting channels and procedures, the number of Protected Disclosures made in the preceding year and the actions taken, if any, in response to protected disclosures made.