Gavin Cummiskey joined Off the Ball's Saturday Panel in the Newstalk Lounge at Electric Picnic.
He broke the story about the shambles in the Irish Women's camp as their World Cup unravelled around them when Ruth O'Reilly gave him unprecedented access to what went on in the lead up to and during the tournament.
Asked about the culture of whistleblowing in sport, he said: "To be honest, if it was a friend or a family member of mine - I'd recommend they don't because whistleblowers get punished. It happens in all forms of Irish life. It happens all around the world. It takes an enormous bravery and you have to know what the consequences are.
"You're probably going to get shunned by your friends and by teammates for telling the truth about something that's fundamentally wrong with the system. And that's evident even in Ruth O'Reilly's interview afterwards. There's a backlash. That she is emotionally strong enough, intelligent and at a point in her career where she realised she had to do it.
"But, there's cost. There's a serious cost for doing it. She's retired but she didn't join the group after the World Cup celebrations last weekend which I just thought was a disgrace that she wasn't welcomed back in.
Ireland players dejected after Wales score a try. Image: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
"Granted, she spoke out of school but the thing was if she didn't speak during the tournament - there was a lot of criticism that should have waited until the tournament ended to wash their dirty linen but if they didn't speak during the tournament, nobody cares about the Women's World Cup once it ends. They really don't and it was over as soon as it happened.
I said it to them, 'if we (Irish Times) don't get it on the record just before the tournament ends' and it's not exactly as if it was before Ireland's big game of the tournament - they had ruined themselves. They had lost their major games - it was for seventh/eight place. I said 'if we don't get it in now...I won't be able to give you a page in the Saturday newspaper in a weeks time, i don't think' - I was pushing it from the journalistic perspective as well because it was a story and I wanted to get the story but I was going 'you will not get the same platform if you wait."
The full discussion can be heard here:
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
