The Protected Disclosure Act 2014 No.14 of 2014
Considered the strongest national whistleblowing legislation in Europe. The PDA was passed in the Republic Ireland in 2014. Its provisions surpassed the previous leading law - the Public Interest Disclosure Act in the UK - with significant protections. It expanded the scope of wrongdoings to including misuse of public funds and introducing third party protections - section 13 provides for an action in ‘tort’ (civil law) for others who suffer detrimental treatment such as family members. There is no requirement for the whistleblower to be acting in good faith, but the law was later amended to include a public interest test when disclosing trade secrets.
A staturory review of the legislation was undertaken in 2018 can be found here.