The Protected Disclosures Act 2022 requires a formal internal reporting channel for any Irish organisation with 50 or more employees. A suggestion box does not qualify. An HR email address does not qualify. Pulsavox does.
Book a conversationThe Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022 transposed the EU Whistleblowing Directive into Irish law. Since January 2023, companies with 50 or more employees have been legally required to establish, maintain, and operate a formal internal reporting channel. Since December 2023, this applies to companies of any size.
The channel must be accessible to all employees. It must preserve confidentiality. It must acknowledge receipt within seven days. It must follow up within three months. It must be operated by a designated person or department. And it must keep a proper audit trail.
If an employee makes a protected disclosure and your organisation has no documented internal channel, that employee has grounds to go directly to a regulator or legal authority. The absence of an internal channel is not a technicality. It is a material legal risk - particularly for Central Bank regulated firms in financial services and insurance, where governance obligations run deeper.
"Many organisations assume their existing HR email or suggestion box qualifies. It does not. The Act specifies confidentiality, acknowledgement timelines, and follow-up obligations that informal channels cannot satisfy."
| Act requirement | Pulsavox | HR email / suggestion box |
|---|---|---|
| Accessible internal reporting channel | ✓ QR code + intranet widget | ~ Partial |
| Confidentiality of reporter preserved | ✓ Structurally anonymous | ✗ Email is identifiable |
| Acknowledgement within 7 days | ✓ Automated and logged | ✗ Manual and inconsistent |
| Follow-up within 3 months | ✓ Dashboard tracks status | ✗ No tracking mechanism |
| Designated responsible person | ✓ Routing to named owner | ~ Depends on setup |
| Audit trail and documentation | ✓ Full audit log | ✗ No systematic record |
A formally compliant channel that nobody uses is compliant on paper and useless in practice. Pulsavox is frictionless enough that employees actually use it - which means concerns get raised and resolved before they become formal disclosures or legal matters. Compliance and cultural health are not separate goals. They are the same goal.
A plain-language breakdown of exactly what the Act requires - and where most organisations fall short.
The Act is not a grey area. You either have a qualifying channel or you don't. We can walk through what it requires and where your current setup falls short - in 30 minutes, no obligation.