Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 July 2022
191. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will outline the rationale for the insertion section 2B, a new subsection into section 13 of the principal Protected Disclosures Act 2014. [38317/22]
View answerSection 13 of the Protected Disclosures Act provides that, "If a person causes detriment to another person because the other person or a third person made a protected disclosure, the person to whom the detriment is caused has a right of action in tort against the person by whom the detriment is caused".
Section 22 of the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Bill provides for the insertion of a new subsection - (2B) - into section 13 of the 2014 Act, which provides that, "In any proceedings under this section in respect of alleged detriment caused to a person, the detriment so caused shall be deemed, for the purposes of this section, to have been caused as a result of the person or another person having made a protected disclosure, unless the person whom it is alleged caused the detriment proves that the act or omission concerned was based on duly justified grounds. "
The effect of subsection (2B) is to reverse the burden of proof in any tort proceedings taken under section 13, so that the court must assume that the alleged detriment occurred because of a protected disclosure, unless the defendant can prove otherwise.
