Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

My parliamentary assistant, Mr. Luke Silke, was in contact with the Department of Justice regarding the flaws within the Garda vetting system. I understand, however, it is not investigating the disclosures made by Aontú because of that Department's interpretation of the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act.

In recent months, I was contacted by an individual who alleged that she and her siblings were severely abused while in foster care in this country in the 1980s and 1990s. Tusla has ascribed the pseudonym "Alice" to the individual and has produced an internal case review of her life, dated 2020, known as the Alice report. Alice has furnished me with a copy of that report. "Morning Ireland" has also broadcast a piece on Alice's life. It interviewed her sister, Miss H. A major discrepancy exists between the findings of Tusla's Alice report and a recent email exchange between Miss H and the Garda data protection unit. Tusla states in the Alice report that the biological son of Miss H's foster mother was accused by Miss H of child sexual abuse, that he confessed the child sexual abuse to the Garda, that a file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, and that the DPP decided not to prosecute.

In an email exchange with the Garda data protection unit this year, Ms H was informed that the Garda has located a PULSE entry relating to her report of abuse in 1999. However, the Garda noted that no suspected offender is named nor is there any detail lodged. In a separate email, it is stated that it does not appear the incident was forwarded to the DPP. This statement from the Garda is obviously completely at odds with the Tusla statement in the Alice report, which claimed the DPP had decided not to prosecute. In its moves to clarify this matter, the Garda has been inconsistent, has raised more questions than answers and has retraumatised Alice and Ms H. Again, the Department of Justice has been furnished with all of the documents I have quoted from. The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, met with Alice over the summer and I am very grateful to him for doing so.

The reason I am raising this matter with the Minister of State today is that my parliamentary assistant was very recently contacted by an individual who sent an image that appears to show the alleged child sex abuser, the person who allegedly abused Ms H, as having recently been appointed to a role within a sports club. The screenshot sent has been furnished to the Minister of State's Department. The individual who contacted us wanted to know how an alleged abuser could have possibly got through the Garda vetting system. The answer is simple. Despite Tusla recording that this alleged abuser actually confessed to the child sex abuse of Ms H and despite the existence of a PULSE reference number on that case, An Garda Síochána has openly admitted it has no record of any detail logged, of a confession or of the name of the alleged abuser. Therefore, a Garda vetting search of the alleged abuser's name would presumably return no results whatsoever. This is an extraordinarily concerning development that could call into question the entire Garda vetting system. It is not unique to this case. How can we possibly have faith in the vetting system if files and confession statements that should be in the PULSE system have simply gone missing?

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