Seanad debates

Thursday, 27 June 2013

Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Bill 2011: Committee Stage

 

3:20 pm

Photo of Sean BarrettSean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 16:


In page 33, between lines 9 and 10, to insert the following subsection:
"(4) The Bank shall publish in its Annual Report a statement of the employment status of persons reporting breaches and a statement of the reforms undertaken by the body in respect of which the report of breaches was made.".
This is a very welcome provision for which I commend the Minister. I am in agreement with him all the way with regard to the protection of employees from penalisation for making a protected disclosure.

I spoke to Dr. Estelle Feldman in the TCD law school about how whistleblowers are treated. She has two concerns, which I will outline to the House. First is that the victims do, in fact, suffer and second is that the organisation complained of will quite frequently continue as it has anyway.

The Minister's intentions are excellent and I support them. I suggest the Minister might consider introducing an amendment on Report Stage to provide for a check as to whether the complainant was victimised by moving down the promotion list etc., and what the bank did about it. While I know that the Minister present and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, are considering advancing legislation, Dr. Feldman's fear is that today the victim remains a victim and the people who carried out the malpractices can more or less shrug their shoulders and continue on.

I believe AIB got into trouble buying an insurance company in London in 1987 and it has not stopped much since. That is the real moral hazard. If nothing happens to reward the individual who brings such matters to the authorities' attention and nothing happens to the organisation, it will keep on doing it. That was a suggestion made from a practitioner in the field. She would share the Minister's goals that we need to protect whistleblowers and ensure that what they say is taken on board. That is the purpose of the amendment.

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