I will begin by addressing the whistleblowers in the Gallery who have come to watch this debate. They are watching, listening and taking stock of everything that has been said by the Minister of State's colleagues. I thank them for the service they have done the State and I thank the many people behind them who did not make it here and cannot be here, the families, and those who lost opportunities because of issues of corruption, illegality, theft and crime within elements of the public service, going back decades, that would never have come to light were it not for the courage, strength, dedication and public service of the people who blew the whistle, said enough was enough, that they could no longer have this on their conscience and decided to bring it out in the open. By God, they paid the price. They were harassed, harangued and bullied. Attempts were made to bribe them and blacken their names, blacklist them, hurt their families, take their children from them, take their livelihoods from them, do them into the ground and bury them by this State, agencies of the State, people operating on behalf of the State and successive Governments. That needs to be reckoned with, but the best way we can do so is by ensuring it never happens again to another whistleblower. God knows, there will be misdeeds and illegality, cutting corners and corruption within elements of the public service. It is a feature of human endeavour, unfortunately, but I thank God there are people who have the courage to stand up and do the right thing. Sinn Féin strongly supports the Independent Technical Group's motion today. We urge the Minister of State to bring back to the Government the strength of the arguments on this issue he is hearing in the Chamber, from all parties and none, and to withdraw the Government amendment to the motion, which seeks to undermine it in the way many whistleblowers across the State have been undermined. I urge him to do the right thing and support a functioning democracy and a functioning public service that has protection for whistleblowers, those who do the right thing and display courage and a strong dedication to public service.

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