Mr. Shane Kavanagh:

I thank the Deputy. The legislation is timely and important and, obviously, Ireland has to transpose it. I would respectfully say to the committee that there are a good few whistleblowers out there who need to have their story heard. At the moment, there is no platform for them to have their story heard and without that platform, we cannot have accountability. If we establish the facts, we can then work to try to get accountability but, at the moment, there is no platform for people in that position. They are trying to highlight serious wrongdoing and they find that every door is closed in their face and that people do not want to hear it.

A massive issue is the amount of time people put into this. It takes years and it affects their families. The onus on them is to always be right - in other words, one little mistake and, straight away, they are discredited. It is so frustrating for the conscientious people involved that the burden of proof is on them at all stages, yet there is no real platform to get that story out there. In order to have accountability, we need to have that platform. I hope that gives the Deputy an idea. As I said, the time involved is huge and I know people who are at this for ten, 12 or 13 years.