Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-16
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

I did and the legislation was changed subsequently. Whoever was in the Dáil in 2022 amended the legislation. It seems to me to be an untenable framework now where, on one hand, if a protected disclosure goes in, it is meant to be dealt with independently and separately from Government, which I think is proper actually. It is proper that there is not political interference one way or the other in a protected disclosure. There is not political interference or intervention, nor can or should there be.
In the first instance, I want to see the programme this evening. With the greatest respect to everybody, at the very least what should be required is that everybody look at the entirety of what has been alleged and also hear the response to the entirety of what has been alleged. That is fair. I believe that one or two of these cases might have ended up in the courts already and that process might have come to a different conclusion.
From my perspective, we have to change the entire system now. It is very difficult for Government to respond to loaded questions as to who knew what, when and where when we amended the legislation in respect of how these protected disclosures are to be dealt with in respect of confidentiality and all of that. That is a problem. The Oireachtas should now deal with that from here on in. We need to develop a different system, it seems to me. Some people want confidentiality.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-16