Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for bringing this commission of investigation before the House. I will be supporting it, along with my colleagues. However, I do have concerns. I believe certain aspects of what has been put before us need to be looked into. I understand timelines. I understand the goals of the interim six month review. Grace needs answers. Grace's family needs answers. We as a nation need answers. We need to know it will not happen again. We need to know how we can prevent it from happening again. We need to know that balances and checks and procedures are in place to protect future Graces.

Other people who lived in that foster home should be listened to after the interim report is published. I understand that Grace is non-verbal. I expect that as many people as possible who lived in that house will be engaged with as part of the report to hear their viewpoints. Grace's voice needs to be heard. We need the people who were there with Grace to speak and advocate for her. We need her care workers to come forward for her. She is like so many others who do not have a voice. We depend on people in society to provide that voice.

I have concerns about where the five files that went to the DPP ended up. How come Grace was left in this care setting for 20 years? I have a huge concern about that. How did Grace find herself in this foster care which did not have a licence at the very beginning?

I know how case conferences operate. When a case conference is held there should be a whole team in the room, not one or two people. At this case conference should have been the social care worker, their supervisor and their manager, the Garda Síochána, the HSE, Grace and her family. Why was it not fully discussed that Grace found herself back in that foster home? I have a huge problem understanding how, when 12 or 13 people go into a room discussing one person, with all the balances and checks, that they come out and Grace goes back into that house. I need to know, as the Minister of State said, that when there is a case conference for any person in a care setting, be it a nursing home or residential care for people with disabilities, that the person's voice is heard, be they verbal or non-verbal. We need to make sure the right thing is done.

As a woman, the part I find hardest to comprehend is that in 2009, after Grace presented with bruising at a sexual assault treatment unit, she ended up back in that care setting. How did that happen? It was not just one person making a decision. How could everybody be so wrong? How could there be such negligence? Why was there no communication or protection? Where were the balances and the checks?

This commission carries such weight and responsibility for us as a nation to go forward. At the moment, we are not going forward. We have 6,344 people in foster care in this country. As spokesperson for children and youth affairs I need to know, as do all sides of the House, that our balances and checks, our policies and procedures are working, they are robust and they protect the most vulnerable in society. All of us in this House are their carers. We are their parents. We have ultimate responsibility to protect. I wish the Minister of State well with the commission of investigation. We will be supporting it, but there are certain questions that need to be answered.

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