Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

The Labour-Fine Gael motion is very important. It has come at an important time, following such a damning report on what happened in a hospital in my town. In the report, Judge Harding Clark asks whether this type of thing is happening in other maternity units throughout the country. On page 33, there is a long list of people who were qualified and working in the hospital who said nothing about what was happening. It is amazing that such a range of significant caesarean hysterectomies, which a surgeon would perform ten times in his or her lifetime, were carried out ten times a year on average. This beggars belief. It amazes me that no one shouted stop.

A fundamental aspect of the whistleblowers legislation is that there should be advocates for patients in hospitals. If a patient is critically or chronically ill or dying, there should be people working in the hospital who would be advocates for him or her.

They should have professional training and knowledge and ensure that patients needs are met. While we need the whistleblower when everything goes wrong, there should be a system where the needs of patients, who often cannot speak for themselves because they may have serious disabilities, psychiatric illnesses, etc., are met. We should protect such patients by providing a system of advocacy.

Local government is also mentioned in the motion. It is amazing that the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has refused to act on the strong views of the chairman of the Standards in Public Office Commission who basically asked that whistleblowers legislation be introduced to protect employees and elected members of local authorities against reprisal where a bona fide report or complaint is made by an employee or councillor who believes that he or she is being required to act in a manner that is illegal, improper or unethical and is in breach of constitutional convention or a professional code and that may involve possible maladministration or is otherwise inconsistent with the relevant code. That is what the Standards in Public Office Commission, since the publication of the 2004 report, has asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to introduce. Basically, it is seeking that we protect, by way of whistleblowers legislation, those who are entitled to the protection and support of the State.

I do not understand why legislation has not been introduced. The United Kingdom has a system we could follow. One of the problems with the tribunal is not the amnesia so many politicians experience in regard to cheques they received or did not receive or what happened to them, it is the question of giving commitments to people seeking planning favours before the statutory meeting has taken place. In the United Kingdom, there is a code of behaviour for elected members and officials. Under no circumstances are they allowed to give any commitment or to organise a meeting before the local authority makes its statutory decision. The absence of such a code of behaviour in this country has resulted in the current situation.

The people are fed up. The tribunals have been sitting for approximately nine years. The Government has made no attempt to introduce new legislation to address the issues in regard to planning corruption, particularly in respect of protecting people who are vulnerable and who, if they told what they know, would face the same type of attack the nurse at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital faced. As Judge Harding Clark said in her report, the woman in question was isolated and told she would never work again in this country. That is not good enough.

We need a root and branch reform of our legislation and we must protect the public interest and the public good. At all times, we need to act in the best interests of the public. The public good should always be protected. The same type of legislation is required in the area of local government as that needed to protect those working in hospitals. This Government has not acted and has been unable to face reality. Deputy Rabbitte initially introduced his Bill in 1999 but it was ignored by the Government. There is an unstoppable momentum for change. It is important that we have had this debate and the Government must act and be seen to do so.

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