Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

(a) To insert after "in the care and protection of Grace" the words "and other persons who were in foster care or on private placement in the same home"; and

(b) To delete all words after "establishing a Commission under that Act;" and substitute the following:"calls on the Government to make the following amendments to the draft Commission of Investigation (Certain matters relative to a disability service in the South East and related matters) Order 2017:

— in section 3(a) to delete all words from and including ‘the role of public authorities’ down to and including ‘that family until 2009, and’ and substitute the following:

‘the role of public authorities in the care and protection of persons who were in foster care or private placement with a family in the South East of Ireland, including but not limited to a person known by the pseudonym Grace, who resided with that family until 2009, and'; and

— in section 4(b), to insert after 'terms of reference,' the words 'subject to the approval of both Houses of the Oireachtas,'."

I was absolutely gutted when I read the terms of reference and saw the way in which the Government is handling this issue. I see this as an absolute betrayal of the families who have been victimised at the hands of the HSE. We have been silent too long at this stage.

Contrary to the popular narrative, this horrific case was not brought to the attention of the universe as a result of the very heroic gestures of a whistleblower who went to the Committee of Public Accounts. The truth is the position was well known for decades in the South Eastern Health Board. It was known at the top of the Department of Health and two previous Ministers. Six months before that meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts in September 2014, the protected disclosure of a HSE social worker, who has remained anonymous to this day, was made. That was the worker who made the formal report to An Garda Síochána, a whistleblower who contacted us in 2014. We took that information not to the newspapers but directly to the then Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar, and the then Minister of State, former Deputy Kathleen Lynch. From what we could see, both of them attempted to deal with the issue as best they could. They first moved to deal with the people who had interacted with that foster care home to see if they got the required attention and supports. They also sought to publish the reports and information to take this issue further.

This is not an isolated or one-off event but a deliberate and orchestrated instance of cover-up by the HSE to protect itself regardless of the consequences for vulnerable adults. The then Minister of State, former Deputy Kathleen Lynch, wrote to the committee after meeting us in April 2015 and stated that she thought it "extremely important the review should be finalised and both reports should be published as soon as possible". She said she emphasised that to the HSE. We all know the HSE hid behind the Garda excuse all of the time with the Minister of State and that it has continued to do so for the past two years. We now know the excuse did not come from the Garda.

Another issue relates to the removal of people to safety. In fairness, both Ministers made much play of that. After the "Prime Time" programme in 2015, evidence emerged that another person was still using that foster care home. When we went to the then Minister, Deputy Varadkar, and we told him that. He moved immediately to find out if that was the case. I have the e-mail he got back in which the HSE, not concerned about due diligence or the fact that there was a woman in that home, informed the Minister that it had not placed anyone there. It also indicated that "the Deputy" might have been talking about a private arrangement but that it had told the family not to continue with that arrangement and the family did not do so. The family did continue with the arrangement because it was never told the reason why the HSE did not want it to do so or about the sexual abuse.

The terms of reference we have seen are an absolute stitch-up. This is not about Grace but rather ignoring the signs over decades. In 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012, social workers made points. In 1993, the mother of a woman who was really badly abused in that position made a complaint. She was told she had a husband and son and asked whether she wanted them investigated for possible sex abuse. She was basically encouraged to drop the sex abuse allegation. The person who said that to her was the same individual who had approved the foster care arrangement, who approved Grace being placed there and who was named in the Ryan report for negligence. This is not an ad hocblip. It comes as a result of systematic failures in the south-east region. If we do not deal with it, the only place this is going is to another inquiry. It will not do Grace any good. I cannot accept what the Government is saying on this and we will not support the motion. We need this to be a comprehensive inquiry into the full gamut of events.

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