I welcome all the whistleblowers and their friends in the Public Gallery. I am supporting this motion. We all remember former Sergeant Maurice McCabe who exposed corruption and malpractice within An Garda Síochána, and the treatment he faced as a result. It led to the disclosures tribunal. On the recent protected disclosures Deputy Toole mentioned, I also raised these here in this House, including one from a healthcare professional. It raised deeply serious concerns about systemic failings during the Covid-19 scam-demic vaccine roll-out and treatment protocols in nursing homes. The discloser alleged that warnings of a safety risk were repeatedly ignored, that informed consent was not obtained and that the regulatory bodies failed to investigate credible reports of harm. They highlighted issues such as the suppression of safety data, the misuse of non-disclosure agreements and the absence of timely investigations even when lives were at stake. Lives were at stake and lives were lost. The evidence presented points to a pattern of stonewalling, delay and denial when regulators and public bodies refused to act on credible warnings and failed to investigate clusters of sudden deaths and a rise in the number of adverse events. This undermined public trust and violated legal and ethical obligations. The Department of Health, the Minister and the regulatory bodies continue to ignore these protected disclosures. This motion calls for what is currently needed: swift independent investigation into disclosures, and we are going to have to go outside the country to get that; enforceable sanctions for officials who obstruct and delay inquiries, which they do; legal aid and support for whistleblowers who suffer retaliation; and transparency measures including publication of anonymised progress reports and compliance data. We cannot allow a culture where speaking up means career destruction. Whistleblowers are acting in the public interest. They protect lives and it is time for the State to protect them. I am seriously calling for the Minister for Health, the Taoiseach and all the other agencies to deal with the protected disclosures that Deputy Toole and I have brought to the House in good faith. It was a very serious situation that happened during Covid and it continues because, of course, we have had no investigation into the happenings of Covid. It was a kind of desktop experience but I want international experts from abroad to come in here for a truly independent inquiry. We need that and I hope this motion will be supported.

Sentiment score: 0.11