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Expert Commentary

Expert Commentary

We have provided expert commentary based on our research in the following articles that focus on the impacts of whistleblowing:

Ireland’s lonely whistleblowers

by Jamie Smyth

‘Kate Kenny, who is researching whistleblowing in banking at Queen’s University Belfast, says “informal blacklists” of whistleblowers exist in many industries, and suggests that the compensation provisions in the draft bill do not go far enough. Ireland, she argues, needs to change the ambivalent attitude towards whistleblower protection shown by the authorities and the public. “A new law is to be celebrated,” she says. “But research from other jurisdictions tells us that it must be supported by the media, civil society, government and the public if it is to be a success.”’

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‘There were hundreds of us crying out for help’: the afterlife of the whistleblower

by Andrew Smith

Kate Kenny… says she has been surprised by “the amount of work that goes into a being a whistleblower”, meaning the constant reading of documents, rebutting of arguments, exposing of lies and learning about the law, all while struggling to hold your personality together: in short, by the fact that it’s a full-time job which – usually without warning – takes over your life.’

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Speaking out against your employer is still risky

by Alicia Clegg

‘A forthcoming study, Post-disclosure Survival Strategies: Transforming whistleblower experiences, conducted by Professor Marianna Fotaki of Warwick Business School and Professor Kate Kenny of Queen’s University Belfast, found that 62 per cent of whistleblowers reported being demoted or given more menial tasks and almost all were eventually dismissed or resigned.’

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Why do we treat whistleblowers so horribly?

by Mark Paul

Later this month, academic Kate Kenny, a business professor at NUI Galway, will publish Whistleblowing; Towards a New Theory, a study of society’s treatment of whistleblowers in the financial industry in Ireland and across the globe.

Interviewees

Sugarman and Greene are among the many interviewees, while the case of former AIB whistleblower Eugene McErlean, who exposed overcharging, is also considered.

You will want to fling Kenny’s book across the room. Not for how it is written; it is both quietly authoritative yet still reasonably accessible. But out of anger. Greene’s interviews with Kenny are particularly distressing to read.’

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Why British whistleblowers need a safety net to protect them from blacklisting

by Greg Wright

Professor Kate Kenny, of the National University of Ireland Galway, who has conducted a study on whistleblowers, says: “As long as we as a society play along and turn a blind eye to the whistleblower’s plight, the organisations, who are in reality the true transgressors, will continue to have their way.”

Ms Kenny was the co-investigator on a report compiled by Professor Marianna Fotaki, of Warwick Business School, which looked at the fate of 25 whistleblowers from the UK, Europe and the US.

It makes depressing reading. The whistleblowers lost their jobs. Some were fired, while others faced psychological pressure that made them quit.

But it doesn’t have to be like this.’

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Greg Wright: The economic case for protecting whistle blowers

by Greg Wright

Kate Kenny, of Queen’s University Belfast, who has conducted a study on whistleblowers, said: “As long as we as a society play along and turn a blind eye to the whistleblower’s plight, the organisations, who are in reality the true transgressors, will continue to have their way.”

Ms Kenny was the co-investigator on a report compiled by Professor Marianna Fotaki, of Warwick Business School, which looked at the fate of 25 whistleblowers from the UK, Europe and the US. It makes depressing reading. The whistleblowers lost their jobs. Some were fired, while others faced psychological pressure that made them quit.’

Read more.

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