Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)

Tacaím leis an rún. I support the motion and the Whistleblowers Protection Bill it proposes. It is essential if we are to achieve genuine openness, transparency and accountability in this State. Indeed, it is ironic and timely that this motion is being debated in the aftermath of the publication of the report on Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda regarding the cruel and bizarre activities of Michael Neary. It seems self-evident from the Neary case that this was a dreadful situation where many people must have known of the horror that was going on for a long time and the appalling treatment of the rights of the women concerned, not to mention the callous and deliberate mutilation of their bodies. Clearly many people knew but, through fear of the power of Neary, the regime in the hospital and presumably through a sense of their own helplessness, not only did nothing, they participated in what can only be described as atrocities condemning many women to a nightmare experience.

The incredible truth about the Neary case is that it could still be going on today but for the courage and determination of a whistleblower, a midwife who we only know as Ann. The Bill supported in this motion would provide a ready mechanism for a person such as that midwife to expose the abuse of people's rights and the terrible injustice perpetrated against those women. The courageous and lonely stand taken by the midwife and later by the health board official who supported her must be classic examples of the whistleblower. What they did is what we might expect of anyone but the reality is that everyone else involved was cowed into silence. It is extraordinary that the Government should now reject the legislation which would empower people to speak out and expose such injustice.

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