Dáil debates

Tuesday, 2 February 2016

Establishment of a Statutory Commission of Investigation into a Foster Home in the South East: Statements

 

7:00 pm

Photo of Clare DalyClare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that the only reason this is the last act of Government is the botched arrogance of senior officialdom in the HSE in its apology-non-apology to the Committee of Public Accounts. This is not going to go away. The first point I would make is that what is in the public domain is only the tip of the iceberg on this issue. There are a number of aspects in regard to the Grace case which are unique and particularly horrific but what is not unique is the approach taken by the HSE in its failure to deal with it. In fact, that is something that is all too familiar.

The only conclusion one can draw from the manner in which this has been addressed is that it is now a systemic problem inside the HSE, at best characterised as incompetence, at worst as recklessness and deliberate cover-up. I do not make those points lightly. We know the organisations charged with investigating and examining some of these allegations were connected to some of the officialdom and upper management inside the HSE itself. We know the South Eastern Health Board had a long-standing knowledge of the allegations at the heart of this case for a period of decades. We know that, in the initial investigation, it was the social workers who were blamed for the problems - scapegoated, in fact - when, in reality, the role of a social worker is a little like the relationship of a garda to the DPP, in that a garda makes recommendations and the DPP decides whether to act. A social worker makes a report and the line manager decides what happens next - that is the reality.

There are a couple of facts we need to know more about. It is a fact there was a decision in 1996 to remove Grace from the foster home. It was based on a proper case study and supported documentation as to the rationale of the abuse and the reason that young woman should be removed - decision taken. We know that on 9 August, the foster father contacted the Department of Health and begged for his foster daughter to remain in his care. We know the Minister for Health at that time made inquiries as to why the decision to remove her had been made. We know that subsequently in September, the file shows, "We need to discuss this case", but the decision was overturned for legal reasons. No legal information was quantified and there was no proper case study as to the rationale for that decision.

I do not know who is responsible and I am not blaming anybody but somebody made that decision and somebody has to be held accountable. Rather than deal with that, the approach taken by the health board was to minimise and to lawyer up, the same approach I heard at the Committee of Public Accounts today. Again, the impression was given today that the HSE was on top of it, was dealing with this, kind of found out in 2010 and moved straight away. That is not true. The HSE knew about it well before then. It was reignited when a new social worker arrived in 2007.

Even in regard to the "Ann" case, we know that in 2010 the HSE contacted the family of that woman and advised it not to have a care arrangement with that foster home, but did not give the reasons. We know Resilience Ireland, appointed by the HSE, visited that family and told it not to have anything to do with the foster home, but did not give the family the reasons for that advice. That is in clear breach of all protocol in these situations. The HSE policy requires full disclosure of the reason for a review. Where there is sensitive information - the Barr judgment lays down the legal responsibility for this - and if somebody is in danger, there is an obligation, even if they are only allegations, to make those allegations known, as long as one notifies the person against whom the allegations were made. That was not done. The family was not given the reasons.

Up to 2015, the second person, Ann, was in contact with that foster home because of the breach in policy of the HSE. That failure led to further abuse, not just of Grace but of Ann and, I have no doubt, of the other people who engaged with that service. The accountability for this mismanagement goes right to the top of the HSE, to the people at the upper echelons. I do not know if a commission of investigation is the best way to deal with this, but I believe it needs to be out in the open. We, or whoever is back here after the election, will need to discuss the terms for a commission, but part of those terms must be about aftercare, about strengthening the obligations of the State to look after children when they reach the age of majority and, in particular, advocacy for vulnerable adults and no interference with or watering down of guardian ad litemsystems and so on. This is urgent and I hope it is the first job on the plate of whatever Government is elected.

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