Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I could not, as a normal person, follow that performance by Deputy Harty. He has been working at the coalface for decades and he knows the position. I am sure he does not speak those words lightly.

I welcome the opportunity to make some brief comments on this tragic and heartbreaking matter. What Grace was subjected to in terms of her own personal and sexual abuse was horrendous. To have that abuse compounded by the organisation tasked with overseeing her care and protecting her interests is nothing short of the worst nightmare. We know that 47 other service users were placed under the boarded out fostering scheme. We do not know, nor do the families of the other children and young adults who used the same service as Grace, if similar treatment was experienced by them.

The failures in this case, while truly disturbing, are part of a pattern that we, as a society, are sadly becoming increasingly familiar with. Parents with the best interests of their loved ones at heart and children with the greatest hopes were betrayed and violated by a system that was as ignorant and callous as it was incompetent. We have been here too many times before and we are still here stuck in gear. An official culture that, on the face of it, gives out an image of compassion and professionalism is revealed at the last moment to be rotten to the core. Grace and many more like her have been the unwitting victims of a dysfunctional system that closed in upon itself rather than be held be accountable. For over 20 years the system has failed to live up to its statutory and moral obligations. It has responded with a complete absence of humanity or warmth to a young woman who could not speak or tell anyone of the horror she was enduring. This is the stuff of nightmares but, tragically, it is all too real.

We cannot avoid the implications of this case. We cannot wring our hands and cry our tears and then carry on as normal, which is what tends to happens. We plead for change, we express our sympathies and we call for those in power to be held to account, but rarely does anything concrete happen. Systems change slowly they tell us but this is a pathetic and insulting response. In its own report, the HSE says the issues were complex and difficult. That is the response of a bureaucracy that has to be dragged into the daylight before its failings are exposed. Serious questions must be asked. For example, whether staff members involved with this case are still involved, still employed in many different capacities and still active in the Child and Family Agency, Tusla. Since it was first established in 2014 with the transfer of 4,000 staff from the HSE and an operational budget of over €600 million, Tusla has lurched from crisis to crisis. Grace and those like her deserve so much better than to be managed by such an organisation. We must do better or history will condemn us as useless and ineffective bystanders to a horror that happened under our noses.

Without apportioning any particular blame to the Minister of State, I believe the terms of reference are wholly inadequate. If this had happened under somebody else's watch, I could see him sitting behind me on this side of the House - where he was over a year ago - and being full of righteous indignation. I am totally opposed to what has happened. Although Grace was the last person in this foster care home, should we ignore the other 47 people? Someone should be charged with reckless endangerment. It is beside apathy to think that this could go on and that the terms of reference could be rushed. I appreciate the Ceann Comhairle's comments regarding amendments but I have only read the e-mail. I am not blaming staff. Perhaps it is too rushed and too panicked after all this time when reports were denied and covered up. When is somebody going to tackle the HSE and Tusla? I never supported Tusla or the children's referendum - the so-called rights for children. We have had cover-up after cover-up with both organisations. It stinks to high heaven. Deputy Harty has described it as so, with all of his experience. There are many good people who work in the HSE and there are good outcomes, ask any member of the public, but up the ladder there are self-serving officials who, if they were to retire today, have a path charted and set out for themselves.

That must be stopped by means of legislation so they cannot act in a private capacity after having just left a job. Some of them are more interested in setting up their future career paths in foster care and many other types of care. What is going on is abominable. They have appalling records and they are being rewarded with big pensions and payouts, and are then getting lucrative contracts. It stinks, it is rotten and it has to be dealt with. If it is not, it will be a shame on all of us.

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