Independent TD says whistleblowers should get maximum protection

Events in recent weeks had highlighted the need to give maximum protection to whistleblowers who genuinely wanted to serve the public good, Independent TD Finian McGrath told the Dáil.

"Too many times they have been hung out to dry or marginalised by the establishment. In recent days we have seen how Sgt Maurice McCabe and John Wilson, the whistleblowers, have been treated.''

Mr McGrath was speaking during the resumed debate on the Protected Disclosures Bill 2013 protecting whistleblowers from being penalised. He said people were demanding that individuals with a genuine grievance be respected and protected.

“People lack confidence in the justice system because we are not doing the right things and not taking good people seriously such as Sgt McCabe and Mr Wilson.’’

Independent Luke "Ming'' Flanagan asked if a hangover from British rule was the reason that in Ireland one was not a whistleblower but a snitch. That was how the State had classified Sgt McCabe and Mr Wilson.

"The clinician who blew the whistle on the One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest standard of care in the psychiatric institution in Galway is classified as a snitch. These people should be classified as heroes.''

Mr Flanagan said he had spoken to Mr Wilson yesterday, adding that on the whistleblower's advice they talked on landlines and changed them regularly.

“This is the man who had a rat tied to his door for doing the right thing.’’

He said former confidential recipient Oliver Connolly was, in a sense, a glorified postman, accepting documentation and passing it on. "His reward is that he is out of a job today when the Minister should be out of a job.''