Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)

The Farrelly report left an awful lot of unanswered questions. The report did not deliver for Grace or her mother. Grace was not heard. At a cost of €13.6 million, we expected clarity and demanded more answers. In a short and precise seven-sentence press release, the General Solicitor, Ms Marie-Claire Butler, whom I know the Minister recently met, said that after examining the Farrelly commission's 2,000-page report, she had concerns. She described how her office's considered and extensive submissions to the commission were not included or referred to in any way in the report. She said that is an issue that needs to be publicly aired. It is utterly bizarre.

Grace's story is a story of State failure at every turn. Once again, a person with disabilities was failed in this State. The report found there was a fundamental failure by the health board and HSE in their duty of care and serious neglect and financial mismanagement in respect of Grace. After eight years of investigation, there remains a lack of answers and accountability for how this young woman was treated. The report demonstrates how the much the system can fail those with disabilities in the care of the State. The Children's Residential and Aftercare Voluntary Association has repeatedly called for a review of Ireland's care system and I urge the Government to ensure this happens as a priority. There remains a number of vulnerable people in the care of the State who are not getting the care and support they need from the State and that must change.

More broadly, how people with disabilities are treated must improve dramatically. For instance, we have incredibly long waits for basic autism assessments. We all know, and experts tell us repeatedly, that early intervention is crucial for a child's development, yet children are waiting 32 months for an autism assessment in my county of Limerick. Now is the time to deliver for people with disabilities in State care and improve the level of care provided. Now is the time to address the immense waiting list for the provision of services such as day care, respite, waiting lists for assessment of needs and others. Now is the time to change the State's adversarial approach to victims, be it those who have been failed in State care or those such as the brave men I have dealt with for a number years regarding Creagh Lane national school in Limerick. They had to fight every step of the way to see the injustice done to them acknowledged. This is a group of men who are champions of what they went through, something that was covered up by the Christian Brothers for years and years. A letter recently emerged, which showed the order had written confirmation in 1969 that a Christian brother was an abuser. The victims were dragged through the courts and had to go to Brussels. A motion was debated in the Thirty-second Dáil. To this day, not everything has been sorted out.

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