Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In this country we do sorrow, shame and indignation very well. I just wish that we did truth and justice every bit as well. It is ironic that today is International Women's Day, where we celebrate the positive developments for women that have been made over the last 109 years. Yet, this week we are debating both the Tuam situation and the issue of how Grace and other girls and mothers have been treated.

I always thought the name Grace meant blessed in some way. It is name one feels means a child is full of grace and will have a lot of positivity and blessing in her life, although certainly not in the case of this Grace. It is incredible to believe that a young woman such as Grace could have remained with a family for more than 20 years despite repeated allegations and evidence of physical and sexual abuse, including black eyes, bruising and carpet burns, as well as the alleged defrauding of money. Grace went for years without any medical attention. Her general appearance was described, and people took the time to describe it, as poor and chaotic.

I believe the terms of reference of this inquiry should be expanded to include the cases of the 46 other children who were placed with this foster family. We know that at least four of them have alleged they were abused while staying with the foster family. The Devine report has related very specifically to that. Grace's mother herself sought files from the HSE under the Freedom of Information Act but was denied them for two years. She deserves answers, as we all do, as to when, how and how often the home was monitored. Did the HSE suppress or hide information about the facts of the case? Why was the 1996 decision to move Grace overturned? Why did it take another 13 years for her to be moved to a residential placement?

State agencies failed in their job to keep vulnerable people safe and whistleblowers were ignored. The people charged with protecting Grace failed to discharge their duty of care to her and, at this point in time, apologies are not enough for Grace, her mother and her family or for all the other children and all the other Graces. We need to get the commission up and running straight away and we absolutely must ensure there is never another Grace.

When I was elected to the House more than a year ago, I promised my constituents in Kildare South that I would be a voice for the vulnerable, those who did not have a voice and those who could not make their voice loud enough. I cannot think of any other situation where I would want to say something only for Grace. I am at present involved with the Care Leavers Network. Shane Griffin, a young man from Kildare who went through 19 care homes, and Wayne Dignam are doing incredible work in terms of identifying the gaps and challenges for those 6,644 children who at present are in care in Ireland. They are also working with Empowering People in Care, EPIC, to make sure we try to address this and put more supports in place for those in care. Once they pass the age of 18, all of a sudden they are cast out into the big bad world without any level of support.

It is important to acknowledge all of the very good foster parents who provide wonderful homes to many of those 6,644 children. We need to have the very best foster parents to be able to cater for children in very challenging situations and to be able to afford them the emotional, financial and supportive environment they need, given many have had a lot of trauma at a very early age.

The work the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, is doing is very welcome and I know he is extremely well intentioned in this regard. As I have said, I believe we need to expand the inquiry to include the other cases. If the situation arises that this does not happen, I believe we need to have an ironclad agreement and commitment from the Minister of State and the Government that, as soon as the case of Grace is openly and transparently dealt with and recommendations are made, this will carry on for all of the other Graces we have.

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