David Norris (Independent)

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Howlin, who is a very appropriate Minister to take this motion. I agree with the previous speaker from Sinn Féin, Senator Kathryn Reilly, who said there may be some difficulty with the word "whistleblower" because in Ireland there has been a tradition of not particularly warming to informants. I remember Liam O'Flaherty's book, The Informer. She referred to squealers and so on. However, we have the Garda confidential number, which is very important. It is very important in my area, in particular with the drugs problem, and I approve of it. We need to cleanse the name and make it acceptable. I very much welcome the fact that the two previous speakers belong to a party which, in very large part, has accepted this process as part of our democracy. It is true in regard to tax as well.

My colleagues on the Independent benches - I congratulate Senator Mullen, in particular, on placing this important matter before the House - have concentrated on the medical area, hospitals and so on, so there is not much point in my dealing with that. However, I concur with every word they said. I was particularly impressed by the passionate conviction of Senator Crown who is an important voice in this House.

I have a suggestion which I have made to my friends in Sinn Féin, to Senator Mullen, who tabled the motion, and to the Leader of the House in a telephone conversation. It is a pity that every Wednesday we get into this oppositional situation when in circumstances such as this, we are all on the same side. As we did at my suggestion last week, we should arrive at consensus in this matter, so we can strengthen the Government's hand in addressing it.

This requires certain action which I have suggested and which I understand the Leader is considering, that is, to take the motion in the names of Senators Mullen, Quinn and me and add to it the words in the Government amendment which agree and chime with what has already been said. They are not contentious. I have suggested to my Sinn Féin colleagues that they consider removing the only contentious words in their amendment which are in the first line, that is, "the appalling record of the State...". Words like "appalling" raise people's hackles. They have very kindly indicated to me that they would be prepared to delete them. Their amendment would then start with the words "the need to instill an ethos of good business practice...". Who could possibly disagree with that? Their amendment calls on the Government to do certain things, the first four of which are directly transcribed from and support our motion. If one does that, one arrives at a composite motion which covers every party in the House, can be agreed unanimously and which should not offend government. I am waiting to hear from government and the Minister on this matter.

I do this in an attempt to be helpful and to ensure the dignity and positive engagement of the Seanad with government continues so that we work together in the interests of the people because that is so important. I am most grateful to my colleagues for having listened to this suggestion.

I move on to my particular interest in this matter. I am glad the Minister, Deputy Howlin, is here because I wish to refer to two matters in the financial world and ask for his assistance in bringing them to government. The first matter is one I raised in 2008 and which is ongoing. It concerns somebody who was at the top of Irish Small and Medium Enterprises, ISME, and I know the Minister is quite familiar with it and that questions have been asked. There is no question of doubt in that a man was framed with the assistance of the authorities, of Departments and of certain elements in our fraud squad. It is an appalling situation. This happened because there were certain changes in EU regulations and we had to massage the figures. It is a highly dangerous situation.