Brendan Howlin: Ireland can no longer turn its back on the whistleblowers

We have a shameful history in how we deal with those who are brave enough to speak out against abuses of power — and this must change, says Brendan Howlin

STARTING in 1983, 46 children and young adults, most of whom had intellectual disabilities, were placed in a foster care in a home in Waterford. The abuse that some of these, most vulnerable people were allegedly subjected to was extreme — more so because the victims were not in a position to speak out. The targeting of the voiceless Grace makes her degradation and humiliation all the much harder for us to read about.

At one level, this is a story of human depravity. It reminds us of cases such as that fictionalised by Emma Donohue in Room. Cases where (usually) men use power and control to defile and demean younger (usually) women. It reminds us of the decades of child abuse in institutions across Ireland that we collectively ignored, the stain of which will never be rubbed clean. It reminds us that there are people who, if we close our eyes or turn our backs, will use our silent complicity to rape and to beat; to destroy innocence and prey upon vulnerability.

Reading about abuse on this scale saddens us. It shocks us. And hopefully it triggers us to passionately argue for the investments needed to keep people safe — investments to make sure our child and family agency has enough social workers to keep all children safe, or in helplines for women experiencing domestic abuse.

Certainly such arguments have improved child protection practices in Ireland over recent decades. They played a part in passing a referendum to enshrine the rights of children. And hopefully, they have made us all more vigilant, and more willing to speak out when we see something that worries us.

But there is another aspect to this story too. It might not grab us at the same emotional level. It might not sadden or shock us in the same way. But the way we treat whistleblowers is at the heart of how we make sure that pockets of depravity aren’t allowed to persist across a system that generally works reasonably well.

We have a shameful history in how we deal with those who are brave enough to speak out against abuses of power. When people such as Frank McBrearty spoke out against Garda corruption, they were targeted for retribution, as the Morris Tribunal has found. When people spoke up against child abusers, the abusers were shielded from any repercussions, as documented in the Ryan report amongst many other reports on that issue. The Mahon tribunal found corruption “affected every level of Irish political life, [and] those with the power to stop it were frequently implicated in it” and recommended that robust whistleblower legislation come into force across all sectors.

From what we know of the Grace case so far, it seems that a senior HSE manager (who reportedly still works in the public sector) attempted to fire a whistleblower in 2011. Why? As local TD John Deasy noted in the Dáil last week “the strong suspicion is the HSE management about whom she had made certain allegations did not want her to have sight of information and to continue to expose their failings”. It is not enough to be shocked at what we have done to whistleblowers in the past. We must transform our cultural approach to those who dare to speak truth, so that we welcome efforts to highlight corruption or wrongdoing, and we are open to hearing allegations that would help us to correct and in future prevent such wrongdoings.

In 2014, on foot of the recommendation from the Mahon Tribunal, I brought in legislation called the Protected Disclosures Act, which has become commonly known as the Whistleblowers Act.

That legislation protects workers who come forward to raise concerns around potential wrongdoing, and to be protected from action against them by their employers when they do so.

In finalising his report on the Grace case, Conor Dignam has made a series of recommendations for inclusion in a commission of inquiry into this matter. He has noted that any such commission must investigate “any deliberate suppression or attempted suppression of information during any of the period 1996-2016…including, but not limited to, an alleged danger of deliberate destruction of files or alleged threats by the HSE to the funding of the Agency whose staff made Protected Disclosures”. Stating that such a matter requires investigation is a very serious alarm bell for those of us who believe in protecting the rights of whistleblowers.

Two of the protected disclosures made in the Grace case were made in 2014, after the introduction of this new legislation. We can hope at least that the whistleblowers will be protected as a result. But as Conor Dignam puts it, we must also “fully investigate all matters contained in complaints by two of the Protected Disclosers to the Department of Health in 2014”. Those who blow the whistle must be protected. But what they say must also be taken seriously — public bodies are now required under law to publish the actions they take in response to protected disclosures. The prospect of a chilling effect on whistleblowers due to a heavy handed reaction by their managers is deeply worrying and completely against both the spirit and text of the law.

We know that the health services failed in their duty of care to Grace. We know that in 1996, the South-Eastern Health Board decided to move her from the foster home. We don’t know why, but we know that didn’t happen. We know that she was left there for another 13 years. 13 years during which it is alleged that she was subjected to inhuman levels of abuse against which she could not speak out.

We know that the HSE has apologised, albeit not when they originally claimed to have done so. We know that we need stronger sanctions against those who fail to report child protection concerns, and that we need to respect the protections that are now provided for those who are brave enough to do so.

We also know that we need a Commission of Inquiry, and that we need the other reports which remain unpublished in this case to immediately be put into the public domain. Finian McGrath has signalled his support for both of these actions, but enough time has been allowed to pass — that support must now lead to action.

Brendan Howlin is the leader of the Labour Party