Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)

This is not the first time we have been in here in respect of the State's abject and absolute failure of the most vulnerable in society. We have a report and my colleagues and others have stated eloquently how it has not done the business it was required to do. The report has a massive cost of €13.6 million and makes the finding of an absence of oversight and monitoring of Grace. We know the reasons the commission was engaged in the first place. It was because there were allegations of brutal assault, physical, sexual and financial abuse. There has been mention of what is sometimes put down as regular negligence. Even dealing with the failures around oral hygiene and so on, that would be sufficient for this to be an absolute disgrace, but we are talking about an extremely wide level of abuse. It is incredibly difficult to listen to these issues. In fairness, it is not subject matter I am particularly comfortable dealing with in any way, shape or form. It is absolutely necessary that we have this opportunity and that we get down to the brass tacks of the absolute failure. In speaking about this, we need to make sure that everyone remembers Grace. She was a young girl with intellectual and physical disabilities. She was non-verbal, which put her in an incredibly vulnerable position. I cannot even imagine what this was like for her, nor the difficulty for members of her family who are constantly retraumatised by dealing with this. As a State, we have to deal with this. I am very glad to hear from Deputy Cullinane and from the Minister that Grace is now living a fulfilling life, which is what she deserves.

We need to go through the ins and outs of the abject failures. A report has been produced. There have been multiple complaints regarding the lack of an executive summary. We have multiple lawyers representing Grace. We have those who have never commented before in the State legal infrastructure. We have whistleblowers who are saying this was not worth doing. That is on the basis of the result we have at this point in time. The onus is on Government to stop this continuation of failure and to deliver. As Deputy Cullinane stated, it is an abject failure that we do not have the safeguarding legislation required. Many of us were at an event with Care Champions this week where family members in the audience spoke about the serious failures they have encountered due to the lack of safeguarding legislation. They also spoke about the absolute necessity of mandatory reporting in respect of those citizens within residential settings.

It is hard to comprehend how there are no findings from this report, that there are no findings on the failure by those employed by the State to look after and to care. In 1989, around the age of 11, Grace was put in this house. Like my colleagues, I find it very difficult to see how you could call this a home. She was placed there and we hear that, due to numerous allegations, in 1991 a determination was made that no other children would be placed in this set of circumstances. No social worker visited Grace in this placement before 1995.

She was not removed from the foster care family when a complaint of sexual abuse was made to the South Eastern Health Board against Mr. X in 1996. A social worker warned again in 2007 that Grace was vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, but she was not moved until 2009. For any right-thinking person, there is obviously no defence of this in any way, shape or form. It is about where we go from here, however, and ensuring that we do justice by Grace. Beyond that, we must ensure we fill those gaps that currently exist in respect of the protections for those most vulnerable. We are talking about both children and adults in this regard.

While things have improved, they have not improved sufficiently. We cannot just address this in the way we address many other matters in the context of learnings. The onus is on the Government. Many people have spoken about some of the many other failures of this State. The Taoiseach spoke recently about how he does not necessarily see commissions of inquiry or investigations as the means of providing justice and the answers that are required by those people who survived the abuse of Michael Shine. It is up to the Government to find a framework for how we deliver in this regard.

In the context of the issues with CHI, a man came to me and spoke about how he had been placed in a hospital setting. The doctors told him that they find the details of the operations which he has undergone and which have impacted his life incredibly strange. He also spoke about what I will just refer to as treatment, although everyone can imagine what happened within this setting. I will be looking for Government engagement at an official level on this case. Another man spoke to me about historic abuse, both physical and sexual, within a school setting. He brought the matter to the attention of An Garda Síochána but it has not been progressed. He is not even sure whether the inquiry that is to occur in respect of sexual abuse in schools will relate to him.

I ask the Minister and her Government colleagues to ensure that there is communication with the people involved in these two cases. I will pass on the details in order that matters might be progressed. We also owe a duty to Grace. We must ensure that there are no more Graces in the future and that we do not fail our most vulnerable, as we have being doing for far too long.

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