Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

He clearly does. Unfortunately the US spin doctors he employs are coming up with all types of slogans and lies from Fox News with Glenn Beck-style blackboards. He has given in for the sake of good government. It is not in Deputy Bruton's better nature to be at the type of activity he is at. He has been forced to do it by the Taoiseach as far as I can see. It is a pity the Taoiseach does not do his own dirty work in a debate on RTE.

We in Fianna Fáil welcome the legislation. We support the principles of the Bill, which represents an advance on the piecemeal sectoral approach to whistleblowing. I accept a pan-sectoral approach is needed, but it is not fair to dismiss entirely many of the improvements that have occurred in the area of whistleblowing in particular sectors in recent years. They are not the answer and are not sufficient, but quite a number of reporting obligations in general have been imposed, particularly with regard to the knowledge of tax professionals, theft and fraud legislation and children. None of this is entirely satisfactory or takes from the fact the Minister is correct in stating that an across-the-board provision is necessary at this stage. We accept this, and it is one of the recommendations of the Mahon tribunal report. The Nyberg report also mentions it. The Nyberg report was greeted with huge disappointment when it was published, particularly by the media and many in government at the time. As the Minister acknowledged last night, the Nyberg report is a wealth of information, recommendations and pointers as to where the country went wrong. It is about time the report, which was instigated by the previous Government, was acknowledged for what it is, namely, a pretty damning indictment of what went on under the previous Government and in society in general. Let us make no bones about it.

As the Minister rightly pointed out, one of the issues to which Nyberg referred was the dangers to which people holding contrary views expose themselves. On this point, I enjoyed listening to Mr. Tony Spollen on the radio yesterday. He has moved on to other things. We remember very clearly all of the whistleblowers over the years because there have been so few of them. They came before committees and to public prominence because they revealed information. In some cases, such as that of Tony Spollen, it was part of his job as an internal auditor, and such people already have professional obligations. I use the term "whistleblowing" but I am conscious it may not be the correct term. This was an issue raised at the pre-legislative hearings. It is seen as a somewhat pejorative term but it is the generally accepted term. I wish to emphasise that I do not mean to be pejorative in using it.

Nobody expects whistleblowers to jump out of every company and organisation in the land but it is to be hoped the Bill will mean that people who feel an obligation to blow the whistle will do so. Those who are willing to reveal information that it is necessary to reveal are very important. Since 2007, Transparency International Ireland has highlighted the absence of blanket safeguards and this was also highlighted by the report of the Mahon tribunal and the Nyberg report as a reason for low levels of reporting in Irish banks, the health service and public bodies. We saw the case of Louise Bayliss, who temporarily lost her job after she spoke out about the needs of female psychiatric patients. In the course of our work as Oireachtas Members many of us meet people with serious concerns about how things happen in various organisations but who conclude the meetings by stating that one cannot quote them, for very obvious reasons. There is a level of fear that their honesty and public-mindedness in bringing forward such information could get them into trouble.

What are the Minister's views on the pre-legislative scrutiny in the Oireachtas which concluded in July 2012? Did it have an impact on the drafting of the Bill? Approximately a year passed between the finalisation of the report and the publication of the Bill. It is a key part of the alleged reforms introduced by the Government. It happened with this Bill and I wonder whether it was useful to the Minister. What are the Minister's views on the time it takes committees to deal with the new procedure imposed by the Government? I am not convinced they have time. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform is meeting at present and I am absent. I am sure it will be recorded in a newspaper that I was absent, but I am here. Committees already have a huge burden and I do not know whether they have the structures or resources to do the work they already have with regard to pre-legislative scrutiny. Legislative scrutiny is far better done in the Houses of the Oireachtas, particularly on Committee Stage when one goes through a Bill line by line. We are discussing the general principles of the Bill and the need for it, and I on behalf of Fianna Fáil offer full support for it, but the detailed scrutiny will be done on Committee Stage. If my understanding is correct, the Minister had his own public consultation process, after which the Oireachtas committee had another public consultation process. The process is developing and we are in its early stages, but I am concerned about whether it duplicates the Department's process and whether it has any value. The jury is out. The Government would have been wiser to see how it worked with some Bills before announcing it for all legislation. I am not sure whether it is necessary for all Bills but I am certainly willing to listen to the Minister's views on it.

We fully support the Bill. The passage of the legislation, in whatever form it takes ultimately, will send out a message that Ireland is changing and we are beginning to learn the lessons of the crisis. The Labour Party would not agree because its members called for this legislation when in opposition, but as a nation we were embarrassed into introducing the Bill because of the Mahon tribunal, the Nyberg report and all of the scandals that occurred in banking and the local authorities. I acknowledge the work done by the Minister and his colleagues. This is not to say we do not have any whistleblowing whatsoever. Numerous professionals have significant obligations to report wrongdoing and these have led to improvements in compliance, particularly with regard to the tax code.

The application across the board of protected disclosures is welcome. We support it and I wish the Minister all the best with the Bill. I look forward to a more detailed debate, section by section, on Committee Stage.