Madam, - "No-one shouted stop", said the director of corporate enforcement, Mr Paul Appleby, at his impromptu televised press conference last week regarding the breaking scandals in AIB and NIB. I have but one simple question for him: Why on earth should any employee who is aware of serious wrongdoing in their work place shout stop?
At present any person foolish enough to do so would soon find their promising career fast heading down the tubes, the expected pay rise delayed, that much talked-about promotion going elsewhere, the much hyped bonus dwindling to nothing, and those in higher authority no longer saying "good morning". And then there is the expensive mortgage on the new house, the commitments to family, school holidays, cars plus the promised four wheel-drive for the school run. Who will pay for this lot if the job goes?
The Tánaiste, Mary Harney, said (The Irish Times, July 31st): "We have very, very strong laws. I am not aware of any gaps in legislation that might make it easier for the authorities to sustain prosecution". There is one gaping hole where a well-drafted Public Interest Disclosures Act ought to be - an Act designed to protect employees who speak out in the public interest.
It is not only in the banks and financial institutions that dodgy practices occur. They happen on building sites, in the airline, shipping, train and road freight industries where safety standards may be set aside, in factories where corners are cut, in estate agencies where shady deals are agreed, in offices, hospitals, pubs, supermarkets, restaurants, and indeed throughout the entire business sector.
We need employees to feel secure enough to be able to step forward and tell all. Such employees deserve the full protection of the law, which is lacking at present. We need a "whistleblowers' charter", and we need it now. - Yours, etc.,
ANTHONY MacGABHANN, Bray, Co Wicklow.
Madam, - Following publication of the report into NIB there have been many references to the "culture" of the time. Partners in this culture were successive governments and also the Revenue Commissioners. Are we so simple as to believe that successive governments, the Central Bank, and the Revenue Commissioners did not know what was going on within this "culture"?
In my view, the more important culprits in this wider saga are the successive Ministers of Finance, officials in the Revenue and in the Central Bank.
On the football pitch, the players will try to get away with as much as the referee will allow. The referee is in charge of the game. In the financial arena, the referees are the Minister for Finance, the Central Bank and the Revenue.
What a plank there is in our eyes! Is there nobody ready to speak the truth? - Yours, etc.,
HANS W. THEKE, Fossa, Killarney, Co Kerry.