Alex White (Labour)

Senator Boyle, rightly, said legislation was an important element of what required to be done and he hoped it would be done quickly. When will the Minister bring forward these proposals? It is not good enough to say it will happen in the autumn, although I know that anti-corruption legislation is planned.

We have heard an impressive survey of the problems and obstacles associated with whistleblower legislation. The obstacles are not specified. The legal problems foreseen by the Minister should be explained to us in more detail. It is not sufficient for a Minister to tell the Seanad that legal and constitutional obstacles exist. We are all grown up. We could look at those obstacles and see if we have views about them. The Government should tell us what they are and let us be party to the debate as to how they can be overcome.

I was interested to hear what Senator Twomey had to say about his professional experience as a medical person. I have worked in the legal profession. People who work in financial institutions have a real concern that their employment will be threatened if they come forward and publicise information or otherwise make it available to the authorities. Instances of this have been outlined to the House today. Mr. Eugene McErlean is a clear example and there are many others. There may be many examples of which we will never hear. The absence of protection for whistleblowers has such a chilling effect on people that we may never know or appreciate the extent, quality and importance of the information people have and which, through fear for their livelihood and professional lives, they have not revealed.

This issue reduces itself to a political question. Are we willing to cut through the argument that it is a good thing for Ireland to have a light regulatory regime that stands back from business, the banks and financial institutions, for fear of appearing to be over-regulated? We need more regulation and not less. We need quality and discerning regulation and not simply regulation for its own sake. That would, absolutely, include protection for whistleblowers.