Call for new laws to protect whistleblowers

NEW legislation to protect whistleblowers is urgently needed to protect vulnerable people in society, human rights campaigner Alice Leahy has said.

Ms Leahy, who runs homeless charity Trust Ireland, called for the legislation, underlining the urgency of creating a culture where speaking out is the responsibility of everyone in the health, homeless and social services.

Ms Leahy warned that all vulnerable people, including children, the elderly and people who are homeless, are in danger of institutional abuse unless action is taken to introduce human rights-based approaches in all areas in the State and voluntary sectors.

“We must not see human rights as legalistic concepts but a very practical way of ensuring that everyone is treated with dignity and respect,” said Ms Leahy.

“If we see everyone as unique and entitled, as of right, to be treated with dignity and respect we would change the nature of society overnight.”

“Human rights-based management approaches are ways of guaranteeing those responsible for running services” ensure that everyone is treated with dignity and respect. “And if we want a different kind of Ireland we have to protest when we witness any person’s rights being violated.”

Ms Leahy said that anytime she sought to expose problems, on behalf of people who could not speak up for themselves, she was seen as the problem.

“In Ireland the management culture works assiduously against the ‘whistle blower’ to ensure that anyone who speaks out knows that will be fatal in career terms. All the more reason that we must pass strong legislation to protect those with the courage to act.

“The only protection against child abuse, and to avoid a repetition of the brutal crimes against children as exposed so comprehensibly in the recent Ryan Report, is to encourage a culture where speaking out against breeches of basic rights is not only actively encouraged, but seen as a primary responsibility for everyone, which is not the case today,” she added.