The Policing Authority has said it is wrong for the gardaí to permit disciplinary action to be taken against whistleblowers who raise concerns or make disclosures with malicious intent.
The authority said this is contrary to the law which says the motivation for making such a disclosure is irrelevant.
The Policing Authority carried out a review on foot of a request by Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald.
It also said the current garda policy on whistleblowers is limited and does not encourage workers to raise concerns about wrongdoing.
It has criticised the garda policy requiring whistleblowers to make disclosures to a specific Protected Disclosures Manager and said that while this may be sensible and helpful it is not mandatory.
The authority has recommended a number of changes to the garda policy on whistleblowers, most of which the gardaí have accepted.
It also identifies positive elements in the garda whistleblowers policy such as the focus on the alleged wrongdoing rather than the person making the disclosure and the creation of a dedicated email address for people making protected disclosures.
While it welcomed the statement by Garda Commissioner that whistleblowers would be fully supported and their concerns would be listened to and addressed, the authority said such a statement should be incorporated into the policy.
The authority also said the Commissioner should not be the person to decide whether or not a complaint is investigated and who conducts that investigation.
It recommends this function be delegated to avoid any potential conflict of interest such as in the case of a complaint against the Commissioner, and to allow for a decision not to investigate to be reviewed at a higher level. This recommendation has been accepted by An Garda Síochána.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
The review also said the policy is incomplete and should outline the options available to whistleblowers who wish to report alleged wrongdoing externally, and that they should be made aware of the alternate organisations available to them such as GSOC and the Date Protection Commissioner.
The authority also said the policy should further explain that those who penalise, discriminate, intimidate or harass whistleblowers will be subject to disciplinary action.
The gardaí said they broadly accept the recommendations in the report including stronger measures to protect a whistleblower’s identity, deleting the reference to disciplinary action for those with malicious intent and allowing for anonymous disclosures.
However, gardaí have not accepted the authority’s recommendation to allow for a review of the outcome of any investigation undertaken in respect of a protected disclosure.
The Authority said it welcomes the commitment on the part of An Garda Síochána to review and amend its policy in line with the recommendations in this report but it wants it completed within a month.
An Garda Síochána welcomed the publication of the Policing Authority’s report today.
In a statement, the force said: "We have already started to take on board the recommendations of this report, which will help to improve our existing protected disclosures policy.
"This is part of our overall strategy to support anybody within An Garda Síochána who comes forward to make a protected disclosure.
"We are determined that anyone who brings forward issues or concerns will be listened to and supported," added the statement.
