Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In order that there can be no doubt, I can testify that the whistleblower is sane, highly competent and skilled in the area of governance and that she was thrown under the bus. I will give the email to which Deputy Alan Kelly referred to the Minister of State as soon as I conclude in order that she will definitely have it.

We need to start by paying the person's salary and backdating it. The Department of Education and Skills botched its response to the second disclosure in 2017, to which Deputy John McGuinness referred. It contacted CIT through back channels without telling the whistleblower, which was entirely against its own code of conduct. The wagons were circled to see what story the Department and CIT could put on it to save their faces and that of the HEA. CIT continue to dream up ways of destroying the individual who, as the other Deputies have noted, has not worked since. CIT has failed to comply with the request made by the HEA and the Department in May that it sort out any whistleblower in May 2014 prior to the passing of the Act. It did not do so. What we need is goodwill on the part of the HEA and the Department, as well as closure. They need to take control of the matter, with CIT, and get this done. Ultimately, the whistleblower did it with only taxpayers in mind. It is time we did the right thing by them.

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