Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

I will resist the strong temptation to pick up the challenge raised by Deputy Billy Kelleher in addressing the issue of "sustained deceit" in Irish political life. I will also stay away from Fianna Fáil revisionism and its bout of chronic amnesia, which we have just seen rehearsed in this Chamber.

The Bill before us this evening strengthens the power of the Central Bank to supervise financial service providers and, where they are found to be in breach of existing regulations, to impose sanctions aimed at protecting the integrity of our financial system and the interests of the users of those services. The Bill also provides valuable safeguards for whistleblowers in order to encourage people to come forward and report suspected wrongdoing, safe in the knowledge that they will not experience negative consequences. It is an important Bill and it has the support of Sinn Féin. Much of its content is of a technical nature. Given the sheer number of financial service providers covered - the Minister referred to 14,000 - that is not surprising. The Minister outlined the detail of the provisions for skilled person reports for authorised officers as well as sanctions and fines. I will not rehearse these aspects of the Bill.

However, I wish to refer to Part 4. Whistleblowers provide a vital function in exposing breaches not only of law but of good practice in public and corporate life. We must ensure the fullest protection for those brave women and men who are willing to expose bad practice.

I am pleased that the Bill protects whistleblowers from civil liability and victimisation. I am also pleased that this protection extends not only to employers who are implicated in the detail of the information provided but also those outside the employer-employee relationship.

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