Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I welcome the Minister of State. He will recall the old Irish seanfhocal, "Éist le fuaim na habhann, mar gheobhaidh tú iasc", or "listen to the sound of the river if you are going to catch a fish". I refer to it because, having listened to Senator Ross, I hope the Minister of State will do the same. His comments must be instilled in this process. Why are we taking so long to implement this legislation? We should consider the recommendations of Transparency International, which is calling for one single tranche of legislation to protect and promote whistleblowing. It has pointed out that the United Kingdom did as much some ten years ago with the UK Public Interest Disclosure Act. That legislation came about after a series of avoidable disasters such as the sinking of the ferry Herald of Free Enterprise. Do Members remember that incident? It was a long time ago. The thinking behind it was that hundreds of lives could have been saved if those working in companies had secure means to have their voices heard.

We have all heard the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr. James Hamilton, call for legislation to protect whistleblowers in cases of alleged white collar crime. However, he believes that recourse to the Employment Appeals Tribunal is not sufficient for a dismissed employee whistleblower. In this respect, the Council of Europe has stated Ireland should introduce whistleblower protection against unfair dismissal, defamation or prosecution for breaching official secrets.

The Minister for Justice and Law Reform indicated last Friday that whistleblower protection was to be included in new anti-corruption legislation, which is welcome. However, Senator Ross's point is that we need one tranche of legislation to make this happen because the anti-corruption legislation will take a long time to bring forward.

Some very interesting developments, which are worth considering, may have unfolded in the United States in this area. The financial regulation Bill, passed by the US Senate last Thursday, includes a provision that expands a reward programme to compensate "whistleblowers" or those who report fraudulent or corrupt activity by their employer. Currently, the programme, run by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, only pays out to "informants" in insider trading cases. This has been used five times in its 20-year existence. However, the programme's expansion would cover all securities violations, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a law that bans the bribing of foreign officials by US companies, US citizens and, under certain circumstances, foreign companies and foreign nationals. The new Bill in the United States will set up a new fund, known as the Securities and Exchange Commission Investor Protection Fund, which will pay out between a minimum 10% and a maximum 30% of the recovered money from a violation of more than $1 million.

The fundamental idea behind the whistleblower reward programme in the United States is to encourage people to come forward. It is evident that many working in the financial sector were aware things were wrong before the crisis hit. Even in the months leading up to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, that institution's vice-president, Matthew Lee, tried to whistleblow over the firm's accounting. His contract was terminated some weeks afterward in June 2008. In Ireland there have been many examples, some of which were referred to by Senator Ross, of bankers or those working in the financial sector who had their careers severely affected when they proceeded to raise concerns about malpractice within their employers. For example, in 2001 Rupert Walker was sacked from AlB's British subsidiary, Govett, after speaking out about a "magic circle" of fund managers.

I do not hold that we need a vast financial awards scheme as part of whistleblower legislation but it is a measure well worth considering. Some form of award may tip the balance for those who have doubts about reporting financial wrongdoing. Also, given the significant financial benefit of reporting certain wrongdoings in the financial sector, an award would probably be a tiny percentage of this. More may come forward with their concerns were there better protection for whistleblowers, but perhaps they should be rewarded more for what is often a remarkably risky act. We have heard some examples of such cases today.

We are doing everything as a country to restore confidence internationally and set the conditions for our recovery. However, we still lag behind countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and many European nations also. We could significantly improve our reputation in corporate governance and regulation were we to introduce such legislation and I look forward to the Minister's intention to bring this forward, I hope not in the near future but in the immediate future. We need whistleblower legislation confined to this area to ensure it materialises, rather than a long drawn out process. I am amazed by the remarks of Senator Ross. He referred to the first consideration of this matter in 1999. We must move on this matter.

I refer to one criticism of the difference between the business world and what happens in legislation, that is, the length of time it takes to get things done. Let us move on this immediately.