John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

This amendment to the health legislation has not received the type of scrutiny I would like to give it as it has come late in the day. It has become a feature of this Administration that much of its legislation is rushed and put through for optics. We are approaching a general election and the Government wants to clear the decks and be able to say it has dealt with the whistleblowing issue which is being tacked on to the health legislation, and everything is fine.

I and many Opposition Deputies do not have the resources to deal with legislation foisted upon us in this manner. I hold three portfolios and do not have the numbers of staff the Minister of State has to examine these issues in detail. If we are to be serious about legislation, the Opposition must be shown some respect. I know there is a tendency in Government to see the Opposition as a nuisance and to dismiss it. Legislation rushed through in this manner has many flaws.

I have questions with regard to what was called in the Minister's speech, "an authorised person". Whistleblowing is important in exposing corruption and mismanagement. Long before Leas Cross became an issue, I outlined an instance where an employee of a nursing home came to me as a public representative and informed me of appalling conditions, mistreatment of patients and bad food etc. This nurse would not report the situation to her superiors and all she would do was make anonymous phone calls to the then Eastern Health Board, but those calls were never acted on. Her question now would be, what sort of protection would be afforded her under this legislation. The midwives in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital could well ask the same question.

When people come forward and inform an authorised person, can we be sure they will be treated properly subsequently? We are told they can inform these authorised persons and their disclosures will be known as "protected disclosures". People want to know how safe this system is. Over and over again, I have seen situations where whistleblowers are not protected. I am sure the Minister of State is as aware of such cases, even where people go to a local authority to complain about disorderly neighbours.

I take the point made by Deputy Ó Caoláin, but sometimes false or exaggerated reports are made to the detriment of an individual. Similarly, there is often a level of intimidation and a great deal of fear with regard to making reports, with the result that people do not wish to provide their names. In particular, this is often the case with regard to local authority issues and people complain instead to public representatives. Deputy Twomey made the valid point that we are on the receiving end of so many complaints that we know the score. There is a role here for public representatives. We should be in a position to pass on such information, but, regrettably, that is not covered in the legislation.

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