Mr. Ronan Kennedy:

I might make a comment to begin. My colleague, Mr. Herrick, mentioned that whistleblowers are often the enforcers of last resort when it comes to public sector standards and exposing malfeasance, malpractice and so on.

I believe the point the Chairman is making, which Senator Higgins alluded to previously, is that there is a broader culture in Ireland, which, unfortunately, goes beyond the scope of the proposed Bill, of not being particularly good at accountability or oversight. We are also not particularly good at equipping regulatory bodies with the resources they need to be able to investigate complaints. In some ways, it makes sense that Ireland has very strong existing whistleblower protections. We need them because we do not have a culture of openness and transparency in local or central government. I know that is a very big point which goes beyond the scope of the proposed Bill but I notice that many of the contributors last week also mentioned it. There is a cultural issue that the proposed Bill cannot address, but it is something to consider. I am not sure if anyone else wants to add anything.