The most practical creation of the 2023 reforms wasn’t a remedy — it was an address. For years, workers with genuine information about wrongdoing faced a routing problem the statute never solved: no obvious regulator, an internal channel that reported to the problem, a report that crossed three sectors at once. The Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner exists so that no protected disclosure is ever homeless.
What It Is and Does
A statutory office (within the Ombudsman’s organisation) with one core function: receive reports and get them to the right place — identifying the appropriate prescribed person or suitable body and transmitting the disclosure with the reporter’s protection intact. Where no suitable body exists, the Commissioner can deal with the report directly. Hundreds of workers used the office in its first year — the routing gap it filled was never theoretical.
Where It Sits Among Your Channels
The architecture, worker’s-eye view: internal channels (mandatory at 50+ employees, with service standards); prescribed persons — sector regulators, no internal-first requirement; the Commissioner — the router when the destination is unclear or unavailable; your legal adviser — protected before anything else happens; and the strict statutory gate to public disclosure. The Commissioner’s classic fits: wrongdoing with no designated regulator, wrongdoing spanning several, and internal channels compromised by the wrongdoing itself. Channel choice shapes protection — the full strategy: making a protected disclosure.
The Practical Notes
The confidentiality architecture travels with the report (identity protection, criminally enforced); the disclosure itself should still be built properly — written, dated, information not just allegation, wrongdoing character stated (the elements); and your copy of everything lives somewhere personal. If reporting has already cost you, the channel question becomes evidence and the machinery changes gear: penalisation claims.
Not Sure Where Your Report Belongs?
That is the exact problem the channel-strategy conversation solves - and the conversation itself is a protected disclosure. Confidential, at your pace.
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About the Author
Richard O’Shea, Solicitor practises with Mary Molloy Solicitors (established 1981), acting for whistleblowers facing penalisation, workers experiencing harassment, and people pursuing civil claims, throughout Ireland. Richard holds a Diploma in Mediation from the Law Society of Ireland — used in this work only as these cases should use it: as one option among several that always remain the client’s choice. Consultations are confidential. Contact Richard on 01 5827148 or richardoshea@marymolloysolicitors.com.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Every situation is different, and you should obtain advice on your own circumstances before acting. In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.