Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

This is certainly one of the most disturbing issues any Deputy has come across. As others have said, it is not in the distant past. It is in the quite recent past and in the present reality. The case of Grace and the others who were in the foster home in the south east has angered and shocked many people. Aside from the apparent abuse that took place in the home in question, the most disturbing issue is the failure of the State to act decisively to protect a vulnerable person despite many warnings and indicators that it needed to do so. Like other Deputies, I am concerned that the terms of reference relate to just one person, given that 46 children were cared for in the home at some point. It is absolutely vital for the remit of the commission of investigation to be enlarged.

Grace was born in 1979 with intellectual disabilities. She is non-verbal, or unable to speak. Her mother was a vulnerable young single mother who acted by doing what she thought best for her daughter. She was assured that foster care would deliver the best possible outcome for Grace. I strongly commend Grace's mother on coming forward in recent days to give her side of the story. We should remember that even in 1979, single or unmarried mothers were told they were unable to look after their own children. They were put under pressure to have their children adopted or to put them into foster care. Even as recently as 1979, parents were encouraged to put children with disabilities of any kind into care. Rather than intervening by offering additional supports to lone parents to help them to raise their own children and provide them with loving homes, the State's approach was to take children into care or to institutionalise them. This attitude, which dominated for much of the 20th century, led to the horrendous treatment of vulnerable women and children at the hands of the Bons Secours order in Tuam, as exposed in recent days. There is a cloud of shame over the Irish State's links with the Catholic Church. Earlier today, the Taoiseach condemned the social attitudes that existed at that time. There is a danger that this line of argument blames the population, rather than the Catholic Church and the Irish State, as the source of those social attitudes.

It is very important that a full investigation of the case of Grace and all the children who passed through this foster home is undertaken. We have to deliver justice for this girl, having let her down for so long, and for her mother and her family. We need to expose the flaws in the HSE and the Irish system of care of the most vulnerable. We must not allow such a situation to happen again. It can be seen from the report of Mr. Conal Devine's inquiry into the case of SU1 and from Resilience Ireland's disability foster care report that there is a history of grave errors in this case. These errors did not happen by chance. They happened as a result of systemic problems in the HSE and the health boards that preceded it. These grave errors were made in the 1980s and right up to 2009. I will give a few examples. Even though this foster family was approved for respite care only and not for foster care, children like Grace were there for long periods of time. This family was meant to have no more than two children at a time but there was overcrowding in this home at times. Some 46 children stayed with this family at different times. I do not know the history of this foster family, but I understand it took children from various sources, including local "special schools", private respite, the health board and the HSE. The use of the term "headage payments" earlier today was criticised, but serious questions need to be asked about whether there was a financial motivation, as well as the more sinister motives linked to physical and sexual abuse. It is an absolute horror story. The most disturbing thing is that all of this happened after a social worker and another family raised concerns about any children being sent to the foster family in this case. Grace stopped attending school soon after she started to go to this foster family. This appears to have isolated her and led to a reduction in her interactions with other people. Therefore, the chances of the abuse being exposed were lessened.

Later, when she attended day care, bruising was very common but no action was taken. That must also be investigated.

In 1996, Grace was to be moved from the house but it would appear there was an intervention after the foster family made contact with the Minister for Health at that time. It is absolutely outrageous that a political intervention could overrule a decision based on what was in the best interests of a vulnerable person and previous information from a professional social worker. The 1996 intervention seems to have been a compromise of sorts where, on one hand, the foster family kept Grace while, on the other, it would not get any further children. The 1996 intervention must also come under the terms of this commission. Grace would remain with this foster family for a further 13 years. During that time, there was ongoing evidence of abuse. It is really shocking stuff. It would appear there was severe bruising on her breasts and thighs in March 2009 and she was returned to that foster family the same night. Only in July 2009 was she finally removed from the house.

One incident is telling. She was brought to a sexual assault unit but the investigation was not progressed because of the distress she was in. That night she was returned to the foster family. This is absolutely incredible. This happened in the past ten years. It is seriously sickening to think that a person would get to a point where she is being looked after in a sexual assault unit and the people who are meant to be caring for the person see fit to send her back from whence she came. The reason was that the HSE did not think it suitable for her to stay overnight in the hospital. That defies belief.

I will conclude by referring to the problems with the terms of reference. As I said, I am very concerned that they do not cover children other than Grace. What about Sarah, about whom we have heard, and the other children who were in that foster home? The families of the other children have been speaking out against the narrowness of these terms of reference. I would like the Minister of State to explain whether he will budge on this. I understand that there is a need to progress a timely inquiry into Grace's case but if real lessons are to be learned and a full and honest understanding is to emerge, there is a need to cover the experiences of others in that home. In light of the apparent systemic problems in the supervision of foster families, the question must be asked as to whether other cases exist. Are there other foster families about which the HSE or Tusla have been equally negligent?

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