I heard about a Northern Ireland whistleblowing case recently where the claimant's case failed because it was not made in good faith. I thought that requirement no longer applied in the UK or Ireland? What is the situation in Ireland - must a whistle-blower make allegations in good faith or might they be motivated by greed etc.

Whistleblowing in Ireland is governed by the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 (“the Act”). The aim of the Act is to protect workers in both the public and private sectors against reprisal in circumstances where they disclose information relating to wrongdoing which comes to their attention in the workplace. 

In Ireland, the motivation for making the disclosure is irrelevant to the question of whether the disclosure is a protected disclosure. However, where an employee is unfairly dismissed for having made a protected disclosure, the amount of compensation payable to him/her may be reduced by up to 25% if it is shown that the investigation of the relevant wrongdoing was not the employee’s