John Crown (Independent)

The Drogheda story was clearly one of many great tragedies. Many women had their lives terribly altered and ruined as a result of medical bad practise. I was struck by the fact that there was no real debate at that time about the structures in place in that hospital. Why was it that so much could depend on the actions of a single doctor? Was it appropriate that a unit would be so under-resourced that there was not in place a critical mass of experts who could perform the type of peer review on one another that should take place elsewhere? Was it appropriate that a hospital, which for many years did not have an intensive care unit, was performing surgery like this? What would have happened if in the middle of the night somebody started bleeding or if a surgeon panicked and did not know what to do and there was no blood bank on site? I was always struck by the fact that none of these issues were brought up despite their being critically important.

I had other experiences. I recall the famous episode of "Father Ted" in which he wins the golden cleric award and takes advantage in the pulpit to settle old scores. I will not do that today because I respect the fact that parliamentary privilege provides us with an opportunity to say things against which an appropriate defence cannot be raised. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, to the House with whom I hope we will have some discussion at a later stage on research issues. I strongly support the movement towards an increased culture of protection of whistleblowing. I draw everyone's attention to the fact that there was an attempt, when the last senior specialist contract was introduced several years ago, to ensure it contained a gagging order, implicit in which was the notion that the only people who could be advocates on behalf of patients were the people who owned and ran the service, namely, the Government and its officials.

I am very supportive of Senator Mullen's motion and of the wider legislation. I hope we can change the culture of whistleblowing in this country.