Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

Every Deputy in the House would share the concern that Deputy Ó Cuív expressed. I am conscious that this matter may become sub judice and there may be proceedings so we all should be careful as to what we might say here.

On the specific question of whistleblowers' legislation, the Labour Party when in opposition under my ministerial colleague, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, proposed specific legislation arising from similar incidents going back nearly ten years. Unfortunately, the Government of which the Deputy Ó Cuív was a member for a while chose not to implement that legislation. I understand what the Deputy said about the necessity to bring in legislation, perhaps sector by sector, because the alternative would be to have an omnibus item of legislation which has proven to be very cumbersome.

It is clear that we need whistleblower legislation not only in this sector but in other sectors. We have stated in the programme for Government that, "We will introduce whistleblowers' legislation [and that] we will put in place a Whistleblowers Act to protect public servants that expose maladministration by Ministers or others". That legislation will be accelerated but I am not in a position to say when it will be introduced.

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