Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I commend the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, on the coming into law of the long-awaited legislation to protect whistleblowers. He described the new Act as comprehensive and setting a new standard in international best practice in this area. It sends a clear message that whistleblowers' concerns must be listened to and acted upon and that those who make such reports should not be penalised for doing so.

This welcome development is in contrast to what happened in this House last week when some of my colleagues and I voted against the Government's inclusion of a gagging clause in the Health (General Practitioner Service) Bill 2014.