Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Today is International Women's Day and it is ironic that we are discussing how the State failed another woman, called Grace. There is no doubt about it that she was failed. However, I want to thank the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, for stepping up to address this matter because it has taken too long. He is probably about eight months in his brief, but I appreciate the fact he has taken it on. It is important to acknowledge that. It has dragged on for long enough and reports have gathered dust following one excuse after another.

I also compliment Deputy John McGuinness and Deputy John Deasy for all the work they have done to bring this case to the fore. I am a new Deputy but I know the work that was done over the past five years and it is important to acknowledge it.

The facts surrounding this case are harrowing. Given the deep and dark history of child sex abuse in Ireland, people are shocked to hear that a child who was in State care was again left abandoned and abused while in foster care, particularly when other children were removed from the home due to concerns.

Serious allegations have been made by a whistleblower that people in a position of responsibility with a duty of care failed to safeguard the security of vulnerable defenceless children and adults, a number of them with intellectual disabilities. The whistleblower is to be commended on her bravery and there is an onus on us all as legislators to learn from this case in order that we can prevent it from ever happening again. I sincerely thank her for bringing this case to light. It cannot have been easy for a new social worker in a new job encountering such horrors. This person had the guts, strength and common sense to report the matter to her employers. Luckily, the employers supported and encouraged her. Only for that social worker, Grace might still be in the foster home and we would not be discussing the case here today.

Grace was 11 years old when she went to live with a foster family in the south east. Her mother assumed she was safe. There were meant to be six-month reviews, but this did not happen. Why? This is one of the questions I hope will be answered. Why was a child with special needs put in a foster home and not checked up on? She was left there to languish and be abused.

According to the recently published Devine and Resilience reports, this is when the litany of abuse started. The foster child, who cannot speak, was in that home for 20 years. Apparently she was subjected to physical, mental, sexual and financial abuse. What we need to remember here is that this was not an isolated situation. It took place in a supposedly State-supervised setting.

While the reports shed some light on the abuse itself, no one has taken responsibility for the unforgivable failings in the provision of State care to vulnerable children. The hardest part for me to read was the fact that Grace was found with bruises by her carers and was taken to the sexual assault treatment unit in Waterford Regional Hospital, as it was then known. Staff failed to find a safe place for Grace to stay, after being in the sexual assault unit for the entire day. What did they do? They sent her back to the house of horrors, which was classed as the least bad option. How can so little be thought of a human being? How could she have been so wronged in her life? It is clear that the manner in which vulnerable children are cared for by the State needs to be reviewed.

I compliment foster parents in Ireland who, in the main, do a fantastic job, opening their homes and their hearts to vulnerable children. This cannot be forgotten. However, we must be 100% confident that any child being cared for by the State, or agencies acting on behalf of the State, are safe and not at risk.

While the commission is undertaking this investigation, why not include all who lived in this home? Obviously other residents will have to be questioned about Grace and the abuses she suffered. These other residents will be essential to come to a conclusion. Does it not make sense to deal with all the residents together, because they will have to give their side of what happened? Since Grace is non-verbal, they will certainly have a large role to play.

The national safeguarding policy for vulnerable adults should be placed on a statutory basis. All Members of the Thirty-second Dáil have a duty to ensure the safeguards are put in place in order that nothing like this can ever happen again to any child or young adult like Grace, and all the other Graces that have been let down by our country.

This is not about finger-pointing, it is about trying to get all the answers. I commend the Minister of State on stepping up to ensure this investigation commenced, because it needed to happen. This and other revelations in the mother and baby homes have shaken us all to the core. Our past can no longer be swept under the carpet.

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