John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will start it off anyway. All the members will be aware that we received a report from the HSE. The main reason it was sent to members is contained in the last couple of pages. The issue is an apology to what they refer to as the "service users" of the foster home in the south east, in respect of which there have been allegations of very serious sexual abuse. It also addresses the poor care across the board for the 46 or 47 families or children that were involved, and cites significant failings on the part of the health boards and the HSE in dealing with this entire issue over the course of 30 years plus. On the face of it, getting an apology and an admission of failings from the HSE was important. In some cases people had been fighting legally for some kind of redress from the State for seven years. The Chairman has been involved in this as well and is aware of the issues.

I want to touch on one particular aspect that could be characterised as troubling. When word reached the individuals who were representing these children that an apology had been issued by the HSE, it was countered very quickly that the apology had not happened. Some people might have said a mistake was made - that people were instructed but forgot to do so, or whatever. As it turns out, it is a bit more sinister than that. A meeting was arranged for 10 December with one particular service user and the individuals who care for her. The meeting was flagged by the HSE as an update process which would deal with the recommendations within the Conal Devine report. Those recommendations were published only after the Information Commissioner got involved and forced the HSE to publish them. There was no mention of an apology and no acknowledgement or mention of any failings being discussed at this meeting. All the social workers were informed of was that it would be an update process, and that is what it was. The crux is that the people who organised the meeting did not even know they were supposed to apologise. It is incredible. At the meeting, no apology was given.

This is the firm opinion of some of the individuals who were in attendance. They make a good case. After seven years of fighting the HSE legally and otherwise and given the fact that a civil case was ongoing, had an apology been given, they would have asked for it in writing immediately. This was a significant development. Were the HSE to admit failings, it needed to be recorded and the people involved would have jumped on that, but it did not occur.

There is another part to this issue. The HSE has today rebutted a story in yesterday's Irish Examiner. According to the HSE, it contacted the birth mother to apologise to her for the failings regarding her daughter. I have had that checked out - it did not occur. People tell me that the birth mother has now been contacted independently but that she says that has not occurred either. If one stands back to consider this, it is amazing. If it is the case - I believe it is - that a story or sequence of events has been constructed by the State agency tasked with the care of these individuals after the fact, it is disturbing. The depravity of it is unbelievable. One would expect some sense of justice and compassion from the HSE. The health boards placed these individuals in care. Subsequently, those people were treated appallingly because the State did not provide reasonable oversight. They are now being treated as the enemy because of the potential legal cases that would cost the State a great deal of money and, more importantly, endanger people's careers. That is what we are getting at.

Yesterday, the Chairman was quoted as saying that the HSE had been dragged kicking and screaming into this apology. On examination, the situation is actually worse than that. If the State agency that is responsible for the care of mentally disabled children and the alleged savage abuse over years that has been described to me - I will not go into detail - is now involved in constructing stories about apologies that have not been given so as to sate public affairs considerations and members of the Committee of Public Accounts, we have a serious problem with the HSE internally. That is just rotten, but it is what has occurred. The depravity of it is staggering.

Someone from the HSE will revert to me and say that it did not happen, but I know exactly who was in that room, what occurred, what did not occur and the tenor and content of the phone call that occurred subsequently. One might wonder whether a mistake had been made regarding the apology, but I am questioning what value the HSE places on the mentally disabled individuals who were subjected to this savage abuse. That is at the core of the issue and is what we have been dealing with for the past year. We have come to this conclusion and are beginning to question the value that the State agency places on these individuals. I do not believe that it puts a great value on them. That is clear. The HSE's response to something like this typifies what our committee has been doing and what we have forced it to do.

I am on firm ground regarding my facts about the phone calls made, the meetings conducted, what was said and what was not said. This points to a greater issue within the HSE. This is appalling and disturbing.