Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

I will try to be much briefer than I intended to be. I know other Members had signalled their intention to contribute so I will try to be as brief as possible. Following discussions in this House, the Minister has decided to add specific provisions to the Bill in the Seanad to protect bona fide whistleblowers if they report wrongdoing. The whistleblower protection extends to officers of NAMA and participating institutions' employees regardless of the position within the organisation. Wrongdoing can take place in any organisation, regardless of whether it is in the public or private sector, and even where the proper internal financial control structures are put in place. Unfortunately, in recent times there have been several examples of this. Whistleblower protection can be difficult to legislate for. It is a matter Deputy Rabbitte has been very much engaged in over recent years but it is important to strike a balance between protection for the individual and deterring people from making false accusations. The proposed amendment is framed in such a manner to ensure this balance is struck. The proposed amendments are largely based on the amendments to the FÁS legislation recently introduced by the Tánaiste. I commend the amendment to the House and I understand that Fine Gael wishes to alter the amendment somewhat. The Government is prepared to allow this.

I wish to make two brief comments on the discussion we had on the previous amendment. I agree with most of the comments of Deputies O'Donnell and Rabbitte in that the test for this legislation is as follows. It must put in place a structure and a system that allows the banks to move away from their very distressed state at this point in order to get credit flowing to the economy. That is agreed by all parties. It should be noted that in the context of the discussion on guidelines or mandatory directions, the most important way to get lending flowing to the economy is to allow——

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