Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The Minister of State, not for the first time, is a profound disappointment. Does he even know when the Government claimed to accept the notion of a whistleblowers' charter? At the beginning of this Dáil, the Labour Party succeeded in having the Bill reintroduced in the Government's legislative programme but that was the last the House heard of it, which is unfortunate.

The Morris tribunal vividly described an atmosphere and a culture which were effectively corrupted within the Garda in County Donegal. From what has been said locally and nationally, many gardaí were concerned and deeply dismayed at the betrayal of the mission of the Garda Síochána evident in the McBrearty case. However, the absence of a powerful structure to encourage people with knowledge of wrongdoing to bring it to the appropriate authority in a responsible manner meant that the gardaí in question were not in a position to act on their concerns. Worse, as knowledge of the circumstances of the case rose through the higher echelons of the Garda administrative system, first in County Donegal and later at regional and national levels, those who had misgivings could not air them. As a result, a wrong became a corruption of the entire police service of a county. When that happens, all parties in this House, whether in Government or not, must look at what the judge recommended in his report to see what lessons we can learn. Clearly, a strong power that enables someone in the lower echelons of the public service to make due representations to an independent authority when he becomes aware of illegality or wrongdoing is necessary. None of the regulations referred to by the Minister of State was capable of addressing the corruption and wrongdoing that arose in Donegal as set out in the Morris report. It is deeply disappointing that the Minister of State is unwilling to address an issue that is so fundamental for our democracy.

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