Áine Collins (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I compliment the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, for bringing the Bill to the House. It is long overdue, as a culture of secrecy and, at times, false loyalty has cost the State dearly. Much of what went on in this culture has only come to light in recent years. We have had one wave after another of scandal or wrongdoing, from revelations of child abuse to bad practice in financial circles, the health care sector, the education sector and many others.

Not identifying wrongdoing leads to a huge financial cost for the taxpayer and society generally. In recent years we have had tribunal after tribunal which eventually exposed scandals of one sort or another. This has led to huge compensation claims which must be paid by this and future generations of taxpayers, not to mention the cost of the tribunals. New issues from the past emerge on a continuous basis. The recent decision of the European Court of Human Rights highlights other injustices from the past that we have failed to deal with.

There have been so many revelations that we wonder how did we not find this out before and why no one said anything. We have had a culture of keeping quiet, saying nothing and not rocking the boat. Being an informant was always seen as bad, but this culture is changing and must continue to do so. There is a growing demand that people who know about wrongdoing should report it and not be afraid to come forward. The Bill aims to provide for this by offering protection to all workers against penalisation in circumstances where they make a protected disclosure. It is an anti-corruption mechanism and a key ingredient in the promotion of a culture of public accountability and transparency, which we all welcome.

We must ensure balance in any new legislation. We need to ensure that not only is protection given to people who make a disclosure but that employers are also protected from unreasonable, unfair or unlawful disclosures. The Bill outlines the protected disclosure must be of relevant information and made in the reasonable belief of the worker. It must also tend to show one or more relevant acts of wrongdoing. It must also have come to the attention of the worker in connection with his or her employment. It should be in the public interest, as opposed to a personal grievance. We already have much employment law to cover such grievances.

There is no motivational requirement test in the Bill which may be of concern to some employers, especially in the SME sector which accounts for 80% of jobs. We must be mindful of the burden on these employers. We must also be conscious of protecting employers from ill-informed, spurious or malicious disclosures. No one wishes to see the livelihood of a business and its staff threatened by someone making a disclosure with no reasonable basis in the first place or with another motivation behind the claim. Will the Minister and his team further examine the Bill to ensure the verification process of a reasonable disclosure is robust enough to protect the employee and employer and provide for open and honest transparency? Employers will have a responsibility to ensure they put in place a whistleblowing policy and they cannot ignore it.

We all welcome this measure. It will be another burden on businesses, but it will be a very good practice that will result in a more open culture, which we will all welcome.

I am sure it will encourage more innovative practices in employment also.

We have all seen cost of past wrongdoing - financially, physically and morally - to our society. We cannot allow such wrongdoing continue in the future. We must ensure that people believe it is safe to speak out in that regard. For that reason, I commend this Bill to the House.

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