Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

I would have been more impressed with the Minister of State's speech if he had focused on how we could overcome the problems he mentioned. For instance, he should have focused on what problems have been encountered in the United Kingdom where the Public Interest Disclosure Act of 1998 has been in place for the past 12 years. Could that legislation be transposed into Irish law? The whole purpose of whistleblowing is to ensure the information becomes public, thus leading to change and-or prosecution, depending on the leading reason a whistleblower acts.

Reprisal or other adverse events against a whistleblower are often secondary when the whistleblower first decides to make information public. We have done very little about this, however. I do not think there is the ethos or culture here to support this sort of thinking. There was nothing in the Minister of State's speech - or in so many Oireachtas debates - to indicate any great desire by the Government to promote whistleblowing, whether in the financial or other sectors.

The Director of Public Prosecutions has a fair idea of how the law works and what could or could not be achieved with regard to legislation. If the Director of Public Prosecutions considers there is a need for whistleblowing legislation, he clearly understands we can overcome the obstacles to which the Minister of State referred. I believe, however, that the Government parties have no interest in making whistleblowing work in the way we would like to see it operating.

There are a number of ways in which it could be made to work. For example, a potential whistleblower could contact a regulatory body which could then make inquires. All of these inquiries could be made away from the glare of public discussion in the media. If the information turns out to be true, it can be made public in whatever forum is deemed necessary such as the courts or the Oireachtas. If the information was given in bad faith for some reason - the person concerned might have been trying to manipulate the facts for personal gain, for example - it could be quietly disregarded.

I cannot understand the argument that whistleblowing cannot work accurately in this country. If I refer back to my own profession, medical doctors receive buckets of confidential information on sensitive issues such as the health of an individual or organisation, or child abuse in the home or the community. We can avail of an array of ways of reporting such information to the Irish Medical Council, the HSE and our colleagues. With the possible exception of the legal profession, no other profession is as bound by confidentiality. We are able to make it work. I do not believe the Minister of State's suggestion that real and imaginary obstacles have prevented the Government from implementing whistleblowing legislation for over a decade. I suggest the Government does not believe in the ethos of open government. I do not think a great enough effort is being made to transmit this information and get the legislation on the Statute Book. The Minister of State should come back to the House to clearly and properly outline the obstacles to making whistleblowers legislation work.