John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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I will put another question to the witnesses. This is again based on a real example of someone who made a protected disclosure. I am again asking how we can deal with this issue. It was mentioned that a person making a protected disclosure was named. That person was named at the Committee of Public Accounts. I assume a law has been broken. The president of a newly formed technological university refused to meet to try to resolve the issue raised by a particular whistleblower. We have had nothing but stonewalling of the process of dealing with a protected disclosure by the same entity. It is interesting that Ms Keane has put forward the opinion that there should be sanctions. Should those sanctions be directed towards individuals because in Ireland we tend to blame and hide behind the entity? We do not like to blame the person who has actually broken the law or who is preventing the law from being implemented. This affects everything from the Garda to universities to Departments. The process of dealing with most of the outstanding protected disclosures that I have seen is being hindered by senior civil servants.

In the context of addressing that in the proposed Bill, what suggestions do the witnesses have?