Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Senator is somewhat luckier than me. When I received information of that nature I had to fight the case both in the High Court and the Supreme Court to protect the person who disclosed the information to me, as I thought was right and proper in relation to my duties as a Member of the Oireachtas, and the right of any citizen to contact any of us. It was for that very reason that when I came to my current position I was able to advance a suite of proposals that overlap and interact that will achieve the current objectives of Senator Mullen that I had at one time. The Protected Disclosures Act is now part of the legal architecture of the country and will protect individual whistleblowers who disclose information from any procedural wrongdoing or maladministration of the type Senator Mullen instanced without putting themselves under hazard. In addition, the strengthening of freedom of information legislation will allow the probing of any documentation on these matters and to have full disclosure of the procedures that are going on.

This Bill will not, for the very reason we talked about in the course of debate on a previous amendment, capture individuals who want to come to individual Members of the Oireachtas with their concerns or other information in terms of what is considered normal advocacy because citizens are entitled to have an opinion on legislation. The suite of measures I brought forward, particularly in the past two years, have vastly improved the landscape in relation to transparency, proper procedures and the protection of any individual who wishes to bring into the public sphere any malpractice, malfeasance or wrongdoing that needs to be addressed.