Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

I was delighted to receive a message on my phone this morning from Ms Louise Bayliss telling me of her reinstatement, just as I was utterly shocked and dismayed to receive a call from her last week saying she had been sacked for doing her job and advocating on behalf of patients. Her reinstatement is a victory for her courage and commitment to the cause of mental health patients in ensuring they are properly treated. However, major questions still need to be answered. Why was she removed from the wards after blowing the whistle on behalf of patients? We need to find out who made that decision and they need to be held to account. We need to end the situation where retaliation is possible or punishment is meted out in any State agency or sector of society to people who are doing their job and acting in the interests of society and the persons they are supposed to be looking after. We must urgently bring forward the promised whistleblower legislation. We must address the lack of resources in mental health facilities and the health service generally which can lead to the mistreatment of patients and bodies trying to cover up that mistreatment by acting in the way Ms Louise Bayliss was treated.

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