Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

According to the ODCE, whistleblowing is among the most effective means of exposing and remedying corruption and other types of wrongdoing in the public and private sectors. Many cases of corruption and fraud that have been highlighted and that we know of today have been exposed because of the actions taken by workers who reported the issues to their employers, regulators and press and who essentially became whistleblowers. We owe those people who have come forward to date and those who will come forward in the future a debt of gratitude for exposing that wrongdoing, while they know and have seen others in similar situations face such a backlash. Yet they still take that moral path in exposing it. When a whistleblower revealed wrongdoing in the past the primary concern of authorities was too often focused on limiting their own reputational damage, casting aspersions on his or her motivations and circling the wagons in strategic retaliation. We have seen whistleblowers suffer horrendous blowback for acting in the public interest and that is wrong.

We are debating this Bill because of the EU whistleblowing directive but at this point the legislation was overdue a review and it needed to be updated. When it comes to protecting whistleblowers, after they expose the wrongdoing the full support of legislation should be behind them and they should not have the full weight of the arms of the State come down on them. A wrong being further compounded by another wrong is reflective of a society that is not willing to look at itself and listen when there is an issue in an area and then take effective action to ensure that does not replicate itself in other areas. Others have spoken about the cultures within organisations and while we cannot legislate for culture, we can legislate for a mechanism that ensures organisations look at themselves in an open and transparent manner. Instead of the first step being aggressive and hostile towards whistleblowers, they should be willing to take on board that criticism and ensure it is rectified as they move forward into another area. That modernisation of legislation on protected disclosures will be so important because we want to see corruption tackled and we do not want to see it replicated.

I acknowledge the hard work done by my colleagues, Deputies Mairéad Farrell and Pat Buckley, who introduced legislation last year to amend the Protected Disclosures Act 2014. I urge the Minister to take on board parts of that Private Members' Bill that would amount to significant and much-needed change. I ask him to work constructively to ensure that at the end of this we have a robust Act that is fit for purpose.

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