John Crown (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not for one second wish to imply that the Minister had anything to do with it, but in my early days in the country when the Minister, Deputy Howlin, was the Minister for Health, I started blowing whistles about deficiencies in cancer services at a time when they were clearly, palpably, measurably, by any objective standard and by a distance the worst in Europe. This was not the fault of the Minister, Deputy Howlin. He inherited them that way and they have subsequently improved. Anyway, at the time it struck me that a rather concentrated level of intimidation was brought to bear on me when I blew these whistles in public arenas, having tried to go through the normal channels first. An inquiry was made about whether my employment in St. Vincent's Hospital could be terminated.

Thankfully for me, I had passed that one year probation stage in the old contract beyond which one really could only be terminated pretty much for moral turpitude. Prior to that stage, one was there pretty much at the discretion of the employing authority. However, it also was brought to my attention that senior officials in the Department of Health at the time were making it known in the hospital that they wanted me to shut up. As I am unsure whether anyone actually broke any laws, I am somewhat sympathetic to the concerns being raised by Senators Zappone and Byrne about the generality of the whistleblower protection in the absence of a level of criminality. I wish to bring that point to the Minister's attention.

While the Minister is present, I wish to reassure him on another point. He blew a whistle himself lately and I wish to assure him that he will have whistleblower protection from Senators for his statement that any money saved from the possible abolition of the Seanad will be redeployed to the new committee system that will be put in place in Dáil Éireann and the Oireachtas. I am only guessing that he must have become subject to a certain amount of internal intimidation as a result of that very honest disclosure and whistleblowing and I assure him of the support of the Members of this House. I would welcome his stating a fourth time, under Seanad privilege, what he has stated twice publicly and once to me, which is this is the intended use of the disposition of the saved funds. I thank the Minister.