Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It strikes me that this has a wider implication. It seems to me that for whatever reason, there was real fear in the case of these whistleblowers that there would be very negative consequences. That leads me to consider that if that kind of atmosphere is widespread in the HSE, it is a discouragement to staff who do a good job and want to do a good job - and I am sure the vast majority of people who work in the HSE fit into that category - to spill the beans if something wrong is happening. This has a corrupting effect on an organisation. What is the HSE going to do to try to address that issue? One of the things that we should have learned over the last number of years is that the best way to protect an organisation is to root out those who cause damage from within; whether that be the Catholic Church, the HSE, or dare I say it, a particular political party. There is a real need to do that and to support the people who throw light on problems. I accept that the witness cannot straight away accept upfront what a whistleblower says and that their allegations must be checked out. It strikes me that is what happened in the early 1990s in this particular case, but it was not fully followed through on. It was followed through where most people were concerned, but not in the most unfortunate case of Grace. What plan has the HSE in place to encourage people to throw light on things that are happening which should not be happening?