Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis na finnéithe as teacht os comhair an choiste, ar an ábhar fíorthábhachtach seo. Chomh maith leis sin, gabhaim buíochas leo as an sárobair atá á dhéanamh acu ar an gceist seo.

I welcome our guests. In particular, I welcome Mr. Devitt and acknowledge the great work Transparency International Ireland does. This is a really interesting topic for us to discuss and I welcome the opportunity to ask questions. When we deal with the transposition of the EU whistleblower directive later in the year, I am sure TI Ireland will make valuable contributions to the debate. I have read its recent report, Speak Up 2020, in which it highlighted some significant causes for concern, such as the 120% increase in the number of whistleblowers seeking advice from the Speak Up helpline. The organisation’s legal advice service is encouraging in the sense that people are increasingly speaking out but, on the other hand, it is disconcerting because if they have to call TI Ireland, they must believe the internal mechanisms in their organisations are perhaps not offering an appropriate avenue for redress. As we saw with Maurice McCabe, it took many years, great sacrifice and personal suffering before the truth was acknowledged. Following on from that case, are the avenues for people to blow the whistle adequate? Where do the greatest improvements need to be made?