Whistleblower raises concerns about nursing body

A whistleblower has raised concerns with the Department of Health about the operation of the regulatory body for nurses, the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland.

The department confirmed it had received correspondence under the protected disclosure provisions of the Government’s newly introduced whistleblowing legislation.

The department said it forwarded the correspondence to the president of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland, Paul Gallagher.

A spokesman for the board said that, following a detailed review, its audit and finance committee had formed the view there was “no foundation” to the complaints.

A department spokesman confirmed it received correspondence from the board this week about the concerns raised by the whistleblower. He said the department would be seeking further clarification on the matter.

‘Appropriate action’

The department confirmed it referred the correspondence received from the whistleblower to Mr Gallagher for the board’s “attention and appropriate action”.

It was not appropriate to disclose the nature of the concerns raised by the whistleblower, it said, because this was currently subject to review and deliberation by the board.

In September, the department’s chief nursing officer Siobhán O’Halloran sought a meeting with Mr Gallagher and other senior board officials about two instances of protected disclosure relating to the board.

Mr Gallagher said, in reply, the issues raised would be dealt with comprehensively, but sought to defer the meeting until legal advice had been obtained, according to correspondence seen by The Irish Times.

He also sought an overview of the cases, which Ms O’Halloran provided. Describing them as “quite general in nature”, she asked the board to establish if there was any basis for further concerns.

Protected disclosures

The department received written information in relation to the protected disclosures at the end of September, when Ms O’Halloran’s meeting with board officials took place.

The board’s legal advice was that if the person’s complaint related to a grievance, it must be progressed via internal grievance procedures.

Earlier this month The Irish Times revealed a whistleblower had submitted a report to the Dáil Public Accounts Committee setting out allegations of significant tax evasion among a number of former senior politicians.