Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is a sad reflection on all politicians that Katie Hannon and RTE had to bring this matter to light when so many people knew and did nothing about it for years. Some good people kept silent but if we stay silent, evil will remain. What the whistleblowers endured should never be endured by any individual or his or her family and children. Sergeant McCabe and the other whistleblowers in whose cases Tusla got involved deserve the truth and should be included in the tribunal of inquiry. The tribunal of inquiry must not become a place for fat-cat lawyers and must not create another 15 or 16 millionaires, as the previous tribunal did.

Tusla has lost all credibility as a result of what we have heard in recent days. Root-and-branch reform of the organisation is needed. We meet ordinary people who do not appear on television and have problems with Tusla. The organisation has an awful lot to answer for. Is the Government proud of the Health Service Executive, which is a monster? Last week, we were discussing people who could not get operations. Unfortunately, we have not heard a word about that today. Is the Government proud that if a nurse working on a hospital ward who wants to do the right thing and speaks up, he or she will be threatened with fitness to practise inquiries and taken out? Is it proud that farmers who have been refused payments are receiving letters from their banks? Is it proud that the after two years, people still cannot get answers from the appeals office, which is allegedly independent? Is it proud that in the past ten or 12 years, nothing has been done about a scan that has been highlighted in the chicken industry? The Government has not acted in the way it should have acted.

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by a young man who entered the Prison Service in good faith. The Government is aware of the case. When an incident took place in a hospital, the prison officer told the truth. Unfortunately, good people who tell the truth are tarred and feathered among their own and work is made impossible for them. They will be segregated and people will talk about them. Are we, as politicians, proud that this is happening? Should Deputies know the outcome of a case that is before the courts before the person who took the case or that the State tells the person that it will not cost anything if the case is withdrawn but it may cost a few hundred thousand euro if it is not? That is the type of country in which we are living.

In this country, one will be looked after if one is involved with the fat cats in sectors such as that relating to wind turbines. There seems to be cronyism at every single point. It is my belief that there are lies and corruption in all Departments. While there are some good civil servants, there are some ferociously poisoned sections in every Department. That is a sad thing to say but it is the reality.

The Government has no vision of where we are going. It has lost the mandate to govern. The so-called Opposition that says it will hold the Government to account has failed to stand up and be counted. Instead, it will wait for a better day on which it might get more Deputies might elected. We owe it to the people of Ireland to change what is going on. We owe it to ourselves to be honest and straightforward. If there is a problem or someone who needs help, we must not dump the e-mail but get out and talk about it.

I ask that these people be treated with respect and dignity and that changes be made in Departments. Funnily enough, in this country people are promoted for not being great at their jobs but if one is good at one's job, it is down the ladder one goes. There were great gardaí who never took out a notebook and who may have had a good harsh chat with youngsters who may have got a clip round the ear. The one thing they did was hold communities together and, unfortunately, they did not get promoted.

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