I move: That Dáil Éireann: acknowledges that: — the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, as amended, was enacted to give effect to the European Union's Whistleblowing Directive and to protect persons who, in good faith, report wrongdoing in the public interest; — despite these statutory protections, numerous whistleblowers have faced retaliation, career destruction, delay or suppression of their disclosures through misuse of process, non-investigation, or coercive confidentiality agreements; — the persistent failure of State bodies and prescribed authorities to investigate credible disclosures in a timely and transparent manner constitutes a denial of justice, a breach of Ireland's obligations under Articles 10 and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and a gross abuse of administrative power; — the misuse of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) within the public service has had the effect of silencing victims of wrongdoing, concealing public malfeasance, and undermining the deterrent effect of whistleblowing law; — the absence of enforceable personal sanctions for officials who obstruct investigations, destroy evidence, or delay disclosure processes has eroded confidence in the rule of law and in Ireland's commitment to transparency and integrity; and — comparative evidence from the Czech Republic, the United States of America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand demonstrates that timely investigations, transparent publication of outcomes, enforceable penalties for delay, and, where appropriate, reward mechanisms for disclosures leading to recovery of public funds are essential to make whistleblower protection truly effective; recognises that: — the protection of whistleblowers is a matter of constitutional importance, engaging the State's duties under Article 40.3 of Bunreacht na hÉireann to defend and vindicate personal rights, and under Article 41 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union to ensure good administration; and — effective legislation must therefore, guarantee: — swift and independent investigation of disclosures; — protection against penalisation and coercive NDAs; — access to legal aid, counselling, and support; — enforceable sanctions for officials who obstruct investigations; and — full compensation for those who suffer detriment through State inaction or abuse of power; and accordingly, calls on the Government to: — introduce a Protected Disclosures (Strengthening, Enforcement and Transparency) Amendment Bill, to establish a statutory duty on all public bodies to initiate timely, impartial, and transparent investigations, require publication of anonymised progress reports, and empower the Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner (OPDC) to levy financial and disciplinary sanctions for failure to act; — create personal accountability provisions making it an offence for any officer or employee of the State to obstruct or delay an investigation, destroy or alter documents, or knowingly provide false information; — establish a statutory right of mandamus and judicial remedy, enabling a whistleblower to apply to the High Court to compel a public authority to perform its investigative duty; — provide full compensation, reinstatement, and exemplary damages to whistleblowers who suffer detriment due to refusal or obstruction of investigation; — establish a whistleblower legal aid and support fund to provide representation, counselling, and rehabilitative assistance to whistleblowers and their families; — amend the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, to prohibit the use of NDAs that restrict a whistleblower's right to describe wrongdoing or penalisation, deeming any such clause void unless expressly requested by the whistleblower with independent legal advice; — require all public bodies to certify annually to the OPDC, that no prohibited NDA has been used in any settlement relating to a protected disclosure; — mandate publication of quarterly data identifying public bodies that have failed to provide documentation, or complete investigations, within statutory timelines; — introduce escalating sanctions for repeated or systemic non-compliance, including administrative fines, public censure, referral to oversight bodies and budgetary penalties; — expand the remit of the OPDC to include audit and inspection powers, and coordination with other enforcement authorities; — develop a pilot whistleblower reward and recovery scheme, modelled on international practice, allowing modest percentage awards from recovered public funds; — insert an express statutory duty of cooperation and transparency, requiring all authorities to provide requested information within 14 days, or face a rebuttable presumption of obstruction; — empower the courts to award costs and punitive damages against public bodies or officials found to have acted in bad faith; — provide for independent oversight by the Office of the Ombudsman and the Oireachtas Committee of Public Accounts; and — require a statutory review within three years of commencement, to evaluate the effectiveness of the new provisions. I am not going to soften this. We have a national disgrace on our hands. Ireland claims to protect whistleblowers, but what we actually do is destroy them. The Minister of State knows it, I know it, and the public know it. We bring laws and pat ourselves on the back and then the State turns around and crushes the very people who tried to protect us. Today, I am saying, "Not any more; not on our watch." Under legislation endorsed by this House, whistleblowers are being punished for doing the right thing. We are supposed to be the ones defending these people, but look what actually happens in this country. They speak up, report wrongdoings and act in the public's interest, and the State responds with the three Ds: delay, deny, destroy. This was reported and called out by The Irish Times. This is across all of the Civil Service. I have a list of whistleblowers. We have Maurice McCabe, who is in the Gallery, and An Garda Síochána; Noel McGree and the Irish Prison Service; Yvonne O'Rourke and the Defence Forces; John Barrett and An Garda Síochána; and Ciarán Kenneally and Tusla. There are many more from local authorities across this country. We are not here today to punish people in the Civil Service who are doing the right thing. Many people in all those agencies, in the Civil Service and in An Garda Síochána do brilliant work. There are also, however, always a small few who use their position outside the remit of their work, and then expect their Departments to cover them when it comes to the law. This is where we have got to stop it. I am going to read out one of these cases. It has already gone through the courts and already been finished. I rise today to address a matter of public concern, the misuse of public powers by officials acting outside of their lawful remit and the misuse of taxpayers' money to shield such behaviour. I want to bring to the attention of the House a case involving Meath County Council, where significant procedural failures have been highlighted to me. I have also received confirmation regarding other State authorities and genuine concerns. These include instances where important health and safety issues were raised and ignored. Instead of addressing those concerns, public funds are now being used to silence the whistleblowers who correctly identified both the procedural failures and the associated risks, such as using public funds to place criminal records on innocent individuals who are highlighting the wrongs. These failures occurred in the authorisation and oversight of a waste facility beside an airfield in County Meath, where proper procedures were not followed and warnings from the State bodies, professionals and the airfield owner were disregarded. The consequences were devastating for a unique and well-established property and family business, with a long-standing legacy effectively destroyed. The situation escalated further when the council pursued criminal convictions against an innocent member of the family without a defence or support of the allegations. For absolute clarity, nothing in what I am proposing would weaken the public right to a legal action against the local authority. In the court case, the presiding judge stated that Meath County Council did not deal with the matters appropriately, that she could not answer positively regarding the submission and that the individual had been treated very badly for a very long period. Such remarks from the Bench are rare and they point out the serious breakdown in proper administration standards. This raises a fundamental issue. Civil servants are protected when they act within the scope of their lawful authority. This is where it is going to become very important for people to watch this and for civil servants to watch this as well. I am going to read this again just to make sure that all civil servants understand the law. It outdates any constitutions or Acts. This is law. It is the law of the land and this is what they have to work to. Civil servants are protected when they act within the scope of their lawful authority. When officials go beyond their remit, however, misapplying, construing or effectively manufacturing legislation or obligations that do not exist and refuse to provide a legal basis for their actions when asked, they are no longer acting for the State. This is the most important thing. They are knowingly making legislation themselves, but they are not acting within the lawful work they are permitted to do. They are acting as individuals and they should be held individually accountable. Taxpayers should not be footing the bill to defend ultra vires conduct. Public funds must never be used for wrongdoing or to encourage behaviour that undermines confidence in our instruments. If we continue to indemnify officials who knowingly act outside the law or fail to carry out their duties properly and fairly, this will incentivise future abuse of authorities and destroy innocent families, businesses and communities. For absolute clarity, nothing in what I am proposing would weaken the public right to take legal action against the local authority. People must always retain the fundamental right. These reforms simply end an automatic use of taxpayers' money to defend officials who knowingly exceed or misuse their lawful powers. Therefore, I am calling for a review of the statutory protections afforded to civil servants, a clear mechanism for professional accountability when officials act outside their remit and an end to the using of public funds to defend ultra vires actions.

Sentiment score: -0.04

Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle.

Sentiment score: 0.36

Before I start off, I thank John Campbell, Mark Nolan, Emma Corrigan, my colleagues here in Independent Ireland and, most of all, the whistleblowers who gave us the details and information on this to make sure that we could bring a Private Members' Bill to the Government on which it is after delivering 20 minutes of waffle outside of what we were talking about. I want to make quite clear what we are looking for is a review of the statutory protections afforded to civil servants and - this is where the Deputies from that side of the House have to listen - a clear mechanism for professional accountability when officials act outside of their remit, not within their remit. Therefore, if they are doing things right, give them 100% protection. If they are doing things wrong, they are breaking the law and you should not give them protection. If they are knowingly breaking the law, you should not protect them by using public funds to defend ultra vires actions, except where a genuine good-faith error can be demonstrated. This House has a duty to ensure that State power is exercised lawfully and transparently and that when it is abused, responsibility does not fall on the taxpayer or on an innocent family, but on those who misused that power. We can go across all the Civil Service and there are civil servants doing brilliant work. They are doing good work, they are doing responsible work and they are helping. We have a minority that have abused their power, but they also were in positions that they also abused the power on people that were in job descriptions under them to follow it on and keep this thing going. This is a responsibility of the persons that started this and I am not asking the Minister to break the law. A review of the submission of the EU directive shows that 50% of all submissions came from Ireland and the Government is not listening. I have had people from that side of the House stand up here and say we are right. I will watch how every one of them votes this evening. I am asking the Government to have an open vote in recognition of these whistleblowers here today. I am asking every Government Member for a vote of conscience. That is something that is within the remit of Government. How many of them will sleep tonight if they vote under our whip system today on an amendment that the Government is bringing to this? It is wrong. They know it is wrong to protect people in the Civil Service who are doing wrong outside of their remit. This is what we are asking the Government to address. Every one of the colleagues here on the Opposition benches spoke on this today. There were people who had tears in their eyes from what they were telling the House was happening, yet the Government brought 20 minutes of reading that script to the table. Jessica Sheedy, in 2018, died in UHL and only for the whistleblowers, that same management would be in place today and we would not be correcting the past. We have a new management there. It is trying its best to repair the damage that was done. A girl died under someone who should have never been allowed to operate in the first place because somebody withheld paperwork. That investigation has been going on since 2018 and now it has gone back to the UK to show them the full paperwork that was not disclosed. The Government wants to protect people under the whistleblowers law and say they are being protected, but they are not. I know her family, Ann and Jimmy. I was at their wedding, and the Government is here putting in an amendment to "protect" them. That is wrong. We have people in the Garda service who saw wrongdoing, and what does the Government do? It protects the people who have done wrong instead of rewarding those who are doing good and the people who are trying to improve to make sure that they are lawful and right. The Government is there to protect them. In all conscience, none of them would tell their children to keep doing wrong and we will protect them. I am asking the Government to withdraw its amendment. I am asking every Deputy in this House on the side of Government to withdraw it and do the right thing. I am not asking to put good civil servants at risk. I am asking the Government, by law, to bring the civil servants to justice and stop the rot. Millions of euro have been spent in cover-ups because they are afraid of the law. What is wrong with putting your hands and saying you have done wrong? There will be people who make allegations and submissions to say there is wrong being done to them. It is within the law that if people wrongfully make allegations, those can be dealt with, and rightly so. People who bring false allegations need to be dealt with as well but the laws are there for that. However, there are no laws for what is happening here, from Tusla to the fire service and the county councils. I read about a case today that had been going on since 2019 where the judge made a statement on the case that there was no evidence from the local authority, yet it used and abused the privilege of taxpayers' money and of the Government to bring this matter to court knowing that it had not the evidence and wanted to get a criminal conviction against somebody because someone else came up with some idea that they wanted to bring it to court. That is wrong. If somebody does something wrong, they are brought to court and held accountable. That is Meath County Council. I have it in Limerick County Council. I have it in Cork. I have six or seven county councils at the moment. We have shown the cases that came to court but should never have gone to court. Now there are High Court challenges. I am going to put it on the record here today that there are people within the Civil Service who are knowingly doing wrong, and when the Government sees such cases going to the High Court and being lost, the Government can sit there in shame. The Government has a chance now to do right by having a vote of conscience - an open vote by Government. The Taoiseach walked in here a minute ago and I believe he walked out again. I respect that because there were ten minutes to go before Leaders' Questions, but he is here. I am asking Government Members to look up at the Gallery and think of their children and families when they vote on this tonight and that they knowingly are protecting civil servants who are doing wrong. They need to protect and reward the ones who are doing right and to make sure that they bring those others before the law. The law of this country is the law and people are not above it. I am asking Government Members to hold these people accountable and reward those people who have gone through torture for their goodness, for bringing this and for all the efforts within their families as well.

Sentiment score: -0.04