Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senators. We did our business expeditiously today, but we held a long debate when the Bill was before the House in the first instance, when useful and thoughtful suggestions were made, which I appreciate.

The legislation that has been enacted is innovative in international terms. I presented on this Bill at the Open Government Partnership forum in London recently.

It is regarded as being among the best international whistleblowing protection regimes which we can all be proud of. It is necessary in the context of the points made about our recent history. I look forward to its full implementation. Obviously there will have to be training and advices given to both employees and employers, plus a common code must be established across the pubic service, so it can be used effectively and well plus alleviates the very lonely position that whistleblowers sometimes find themselves in. It is never easy to be a whistleblower no matter what regime we put in place. We have tried to change the culture so that people will not have to resort to legislative protections and the culture of exposing wrongdoing is not only the norm but fully accepted and lauded. We have made an important step in that direction today and I thank Senators for their contribution.