Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)

One thing I absolutely encourage and urge the Minister to do is listen to the voices of whistleblowers. That is essential. We have had an issue for far too long whereby whistleblowers highlight wrongdoing and feel that they are persecuted after doing so. Unfortunately, from listening to the real-life experiences of whistleblowers, I do not think the position in that regard has changed. We need to do everything we can to protect these people because when it comes to revealing wrongdoing in the State, more often than not, the relevant information actually comes from whistleblowers. I will not name any of them because there are far too many to mention, but the thing that is common to all of them is that how their efforts to reveal wrongdoing were treated. They say people circled the wagons, tried to protect the reputation of the organisations involved and frustrate the whistleblowers' efforts, and, if needs be, questioned their motives, character and so on.

We had incredible witnesses before the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach in the previous Dáil who told us about their lived experiences as whistleblowers. I hope very much that their words will be reflected in the Department's engagement with the EU as part of this review.

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