Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

He then sent the correspondence to the head of social care and, lo and behold, a flurry of meetings started to happen. There were more than 20 meetings in 2018 alone. What strikes me when I compare the content of the Brandon report with information I have garnered from freedom of information, FOI, requests and my email records is that some things do not add up. The head of social care told me in an email on 4 May 2018 that he had the final draft of the report by look-back review investigation team. Yet the HSE, according to FOI requests, said that the first draft only existed from 31 July, nearly 3 months later.

Community healthcare organisation, CHO, 1 officials told the national independent review panel, NIRP, that the first time it knew of allegations of rape was from Mr. Finian McGrath’s correspondence. It also told him that there were no allegations of rape in the documents I gave them, which I referred to earlier. Yet these are the same documents. Is it a simple coincidence that the HSE now tell me that the original copies I gave it do not exist? There is no record of any of the documents that the HSE based this whole investigation on within the organisation at this time. These documents were not disclosed to the NIRP for more than a year into its investigation. The panel had to write to CHO 1 officials to request them after I was interviewed by the panel investigators. The emergence of either the lost documents or the new information from the Minister was also never mentioned to me in my interactions with the head of social care throughout 2018.

After the report was finalised in November 2018, I had a meeting with the head of social care and the chief officer of CHO 1, in which they showed me a report that I was not allowed to read or even handle. It was a farcical encounter bordering on the bizarre. There are many more examples I want to highlight but I do not have the time to do so. The chief executive officer of the HSE, Mr. Paul Reid, said that the HSE did not want to publish the Brandon report in full because it did not want to compromise the scoping review into whether disciplinary action was required. Does anyone here really believe that excuse? Does anyone believe that the HSE intends to take any disciplinary action on foot of the Brandon report? It has been around for a number of years and nothing has happened. It needs to be published and published in full.

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