Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)

I am very disappointed the Minister for Health is not here. I wish to highlight the vital importance of whistleblowers in our health system, and call for immediate Government action in light of alarming protected disclosures that have been made by a qualified healthcare professional and pharmaceutical researcher regarding health policy, regulatory failures, and Covid-era interventions. This disclosure, made in accordance with the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, raises profoundly serious concerns, which if true, that strike at the heart of patient safety, medical ethics, and public accountability. The issues raised involve alleged misuse of end-of-life protocols, failures in vaccine safety oversight, and potentially criminal levels of regulatory inaction.

I am not here to make allegations against named individuals or to prejudge outcomes, but I am here to demand that the processes for handling protected disclosures, especially in the healthcare sector, be urgently and transparently reaffirmed. What this whistleblower and others like him are telling us is that protected disclosures are not being properly assessed, regulators and Ministers are failing in their statutory duty and disclosures supported by data, FOI evidence, and peer-reviewed science are being ignored, misdirected and stonewalled.

There is no independent oversight ensuring a disclosure leads to timely, fair investigations, especially when those disclosures involve State policy or powerful institutions. That is an intolerable state of affairs in a functioning democracy. Whistleblowers run the risk of their livelihoods, reputations, and sometimes their personal safety to uphold the public interest. Yet, instead of being protected they are often discredited, sidelined, and punished. We must ask ourselves whether our Protected Disclosures Act is fit for purpose when disclosures of this gravity, involving potential loss of life and systemic health failures, are effectively ignored.

I call on the Ministers for Health and justice and An Taoiseach to confirm whether they have reviewed this particular protected disclosure; commit to an independent statutory investigation into the core issued raised; overhaul the protected disclosure system to include a centralised triage mechanism with timelines and enforcement powers; and ensure health-related whistleblowers are never again left in limbo while their disclosures gather dust in ministerial inboxes or on shelves somewhere.

We are facing a moment of truth. A whistleblower has come forward with grave claims supported by evidence and the system must prove it can be trusted to act. If we fail to protect the truth-tellers in our health system, then we fail every citizen who depends on It. This disclosure submitted by a pharmacist and researcher, among other matters, includes strong evidence of the inappropriate and potentially lethal administration of under so-called end-of-life protocols in nursing homes during the first wave of Covid that may have directly contributed to hundreds, if not thousands, of avoidable deaths. The previous speaker was talking about the number of people in nursing homes and the age profile. They are of an age profile and they must be protected but they were not protected and have not been protected. Now that this whistleblower and others have come forward, there needs to be robust and responsible dealing with those whistleblowers, have the matters investigated at the highest level, and have them respected for what they are when they come from professionals, peer reviews and FOI requests.

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