Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This report is not the result of proactive work by Mr. O'Brien. It did not result from proactive work by the Health Service Executive. It is the result of very painful experiences by two whistleblowers, one of whom came before us in private session. I do not think there was a single member of the Committee of Public Accounts that did not shed a tear on the day, not for the whistleblower who deserved tears, but for her description of what Grace had gone through and what the health board had done, in the whistleblower's opinion. This report came about through the whistleblower's creativity and that of her partner who found a way to bring the matter before the Committee of Public Accounts. I must say the Chairman's predecessor, Deputy McGuinness, played a blinder in working with them as did the committee members at the time.

All of that pain and extreme effort to get before the Committee of Public Accounts involved creativity in ensuring consideration of the value for money of the tendering for the reports that the Health Service Executive commissioned and then left sitting on a desk, and in terms of that body being deprived of money and, in effect, being punished. Our attention was drawn to minutes where it was recorded that the voluntary body should be reminded where its money came from. The Chairman may recall all of that.

Mr. O'Brien receives a huge salary, had access to a newspaper on a Sunday to say that politicians were reluctant to make difficult decisions and has very strong opinions. He has absolutely failed to provide us with a report that was produced by an independent accountancy firm on a simple matter to clarify what reduction in funding, if any, was made to a voluntary body that had gone out on a limb to support the two whistleblowers in their very difficult time. The whistleblowers suffered that difficulty over the period from 2009 to 2017, and they continue to do so. What in God's name did Grace and the other people placed inappropriately in foster accommodation suffer? The Committee of Public Accounts analyses value for money but the necessary Deloitte report has not been furnished to us. The report has nothing to do with a commission of inquiry. It is a factual report on whether the body did or did not receive money or if funding was reduced or increased.

We have talked about the Garda and I fully agree with accountability. Today's item is one on which we should stand together. Mr. O'Brien should be brought back before the committee. The report must be furnished to us immediately so we can peruse it and discuss it with Mr. O'Brien. That is the least we owe to Grace, and it is the least we owe to the whistleblowers upon whom we are utterly reliant.

Last Monday, I attended a Public Accounts Committees Network conference with the Clerk to the Committee, Mr. Lenihan, in Cardiff, Wales. The one thing that came across at the conference was our utter reliance on whistleblowers. The Comptroller and Auditor General is doing a brilliant job, as are his counterparts in Northern Ireland and England, but at the end of the day we rely utterly on whistleblowers. If this is the way we treat them, then God help us as a democracy.