Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is with great sadness and shock that I speak on this urgent debate on the abuse of young Grace in foster care in the care of the State. I am also deeply hurt and angry as a parent of a daughter with an intellectual disability when I see how this person suffered, but nobody acted. She spent 13 years in a home - abused, tortured and exploited. That poor young girl - 13 years of sheer hell and 13 years of failings and neglect. I thought this issue was a thing of the past and that we had this debate in the Dáil more than a year ago.

Let us focus today on the victim and on the need to support her and let us forget for a while all this talk about a commission of inquiry. A person, a young woman, was savagely assaulted and those guilty or involved in any negligence or cover-up should be prosecuted. This is a policing and Garda matter. Those responsible must take responsibility for their actions and their incompetence. We should not have to wait for another two years for a commission of inquiry, which could end up in dodgy territory or in legal complications that cost the taxpayers millions of euro. We need to take three basic steps. First, those responsible must be held accountable and prosecuted. Second, compensation and support should be provided for the young victim and her family. Third, we must put in place adequate protection measures for all people with intellectual disabilities.

I warned about the dangers in this regard a number of years ago in the Dáil when we were discussing other cases of child sexual abuse. I warned that some of these abusers would come up with new ideas to infiltrate services where there are vulnerable children and young adults. We need to be very vigilant and to put in place adequate protections. We have some excellent protections in place in our primary and secondary schools and in other areas, but people with intellectual disabilities are often forgotten about.

I am glad the Minister is here to hear me mention another issue. Families and parents of children and adults with intellectual disabilities are extremely traumatised and very hurt and sad. This is the case all over Ireland as we speak tonight. That said, we should never forget that we have wonderful foster parents in this country who do an amazing job. I know many of those foster parents and they should not be labelled in any way in respect of this issue. We have excellent foster care families who do a great job with children in care and children at risk and I use this opportunity to commend them. However, we must be always vigilant.

Another issue in respect of children and young adults with intellectual disabilities is that this is just one case, but only God knows how many cases are out there. This leads me on to the issue of whistleblowers. I commend them because they are patriots who have stood up against the system to shout and scream to protect our young vulnerable people with intellectual disabilities.

We also need to deal with the issue of "accountability", a word that is often abused in public life. We need accountability and need to get away from the broad debates on management and policy matters. We need people in our services who are accountable and who provide transparency. We need the right people in the right positions.

The treatment of these vulnerable individuals points to serious human rights abuses that amount to inhuman and degrading treatment. I urge the Minister and the Government to be vigilant, although it is late at this late stage to say that. We need to be vigilant to protect all our young people, particularly those with intellectual disabilities.

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