Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have one further point and one follow-up question for the Minister. It is right and proper for us, as parliamentarians and Oireachtas Members, that there should be a political accountability element to it as well. Ultimately, those of us who are elected, and those of us who are fortunate enough to be elevated to the position of being responsible for an area of public life in Ireland as a Minister, have a particular responsibility in terms of decision-making and what happens in respect of the management of public resources and so forth. A level of public accountability comes with the fact that when a report has been made to the Minister, it has touched the elected representatives or those public representatives in that sense. Yes, there have perhaps been failings in the past but as the Minister described it, the failings were downstream where it was unclear what a Minister would do with a protected disclosure. I feel we could address the issue of a clear line on what the Minister should do with a protected disclosure without having this element where we discourage the bringing of disclosures to the Minister. For me, it is important to set out what the Minister does with the disclosure. Even doing that would in itself address most of the concerns that have arisen without then also having this discouragement of the report to the Minister.

I would like there to be a point in Ireland whereby any issue that are highlighted as being of public concern are dealt with slowly through that kind of light. Sadly, however, it is often only when there has been heat that issues have been addressed. Very practically, it has often only been when Ministers have answered questions to committees, the media or in the Seanad or Dáil, where we have a political point of accountability, that issues have been addressed. There are so many cases in which an issue has been highlighted for ten years and it was only when it became a political point of discussion that action and proper investigation happened. That, sadly, is the reality and that is what people see. In that context, even if we move to a point whereby we really have adequate other channels, it may be, at a minimum, premature to move away from the ministerial channel being there as an axis. That is why I really believe it is an important point, although I acknowledge the improvements at the other side.

My question concerns some of that very strong and undefined language I identified, which is being attached around issues of public interest and so forth. Is the Minister at a minimum open to reviewing some of that language before Report Stage?