Department of Health whistleblower Shane Corr is “performing a very valuable public service” in the issues he is raising, Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe has said.

Mr Corr has been responsible for a number of protected disclosures which emerged in the national media in recent months, highlighting various issues of embarrassment for the Department of Health.

Mr Corr’s disclosure spurred the ongoing controversy surrounding the legal strategy undertaken by the State against those who were charged nursing home fees in recent decades, even when it was known the State would likely lose in court.

Speaking at the Oireachtas finance committee, Mr Donohoe was responding to questions from chairman John McGuinness who was asking about how such allegations were handled within his department and the Department of Health.

Despite Mr Corr coming in for stinging criticism for his actions, particularly from within the Department of Health, Mr Donohoe paid tribute to him.

“Mr Corr is performing a very valuable public service and the issues that he's raising, and whistleblowers have in general,” Mr Donohoe said.

On the nursing home issue, Mr McGuinness hit out at the strategy of “stonewalling” individuals until the discovery process and using the “might of the State” to dissuade people from taking cases.

He also referred to the tactic of “picking off” whistleblowers such as Maurice McCabe, Julie Grace, and Sean O’Brien, who were forced to take a case against the State to...

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