Public Accounts Committee told to ignore whistleblower information

Chair Brian Stanley said the Public Accounts Committee 'received legal advice to demote it, and the committee considered it important that it’s demoted'. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has been advised to ignore all correspondence from a Department of Health whistleblower due to the way in which he gathered his information, the Irish Examiner has learned.

The Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers (OPLA), the in-house legal team for the Oireachtas, has told the committee the various disclosures made by whistleblower Shane Corr in recent months should be “demoted”, or stricken from the record.