Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)

I commend the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, Deputy John McGuinness, on his many years of great work and the enormous detail he has revealed in highlighting the very tragic case of Grace. I have no doubt he must be very disappointed in recent weeks at the injustice and the lack of justice that was served in this case.

Child protection is a very important issue for us in Aontú. We have serious problems with and concerns about the report produced by the commission of investigation.

First is its failure to conclude sexual abuse despite the significant evidence and indeed a HSE payout. Second is its attitude in not following up on the other 47 children who were in this particular care home. It is really unthinkable that the commission did not go to the lengths required in order to find these cases and hear from the full 47 children in the care home. Third is the complete omission of the testimonies supplied to the commission from the lawyers representing Grace. The head of the commission should come before an Oireachtas committee to answer questions about the findings, how it took €20 million of taxpayers' money and that it took nearly a decade to produce.

We in Aontú have discovered through freedom of information that the National Independent Review Panel, NIRP, which is tasked with examining other severe cases similar to that of Grace, has received five referrals from the HSE. The documents we have received are heavily redacted. However, we have been able to ascertain that one of the reports relates to the horrific case of Brandon in Donegal. Another report relates to a 17-year-old girl by the name of Carrie who ultimately died of suicide. However, we have no detail on Carrie's case and what happened to her. There are three other cases before the NIRP that we have no detail on whatsoever. I ask the Minister for transparency in these cases. Is she aware of these reports and their contents?

The saddest thing about the case of Grace and the commission is that Grace was non-verbal and she was unable to speak for herself but the testimony provided by her lawyers is not contained within the report. It really is a shocking situation.

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