Gillian Toole (Meath East, Independent)

In the case of the Farrelly commission report, the phrase "Man's inhumanity to man" springs to mind. Ordinarily, that is reserved for mistreatment during warfare, but it is very relevant in this instance.

The value that we have placed on people, that was placed on Grace, the social care teams and the members of those teams who came forward in a whistleblowing capacity and the tenet of treating others the way we want to be treated have been completely ignored on so many levels. How do we move forward from this? Grace's needs as a person were quite simple and sensory-based. She wanted her hair and nails done. In the absence of being able to communicate those needs or the experiences that she had over those years in foster care, the very fact that the HSE reports on all of that were excluded and the fact that other ways of communications were not sought, for example, spelling to communicate, art therapy and all of those newer therapies that we now know can be implemented to help people who cannot speak and are non-verbal to communicate, and in an era where these are gold standards that we are trying to bring into the mainstream through schools, it is shameful that Grace's voice has been left out of all of this. How do we go forward from here and improve the situation?

The opinion of Inclusion Ireland is particularly relevant. It stated, "Non-speaking people deserve the same access to justice as every other person living in this state." Will there be a full investigation? What is the rationale for the omission of Grace's voice, given that there are alternative means of communication in the era of technology?

From my other work, I am familiar with the area of human resources. That brings me to competency and capability of those within the system. We often bandy the words "the system" about here but at the end of the day, it comes down to people. What supports did people have to ensure they could come forward if they had concerns? What performance reviews were carried out? What training was identified? What was the oversight process? What happens next? We are left, at the end of 2,000 pages, a €13 million expenditure, and the protracted duration of the inquiry, with questions rather than answers. Will this process give confidence to other whistleblowers to come forward? As we move forward, based on the experience of Grace and her family, will we have the confidence that this will not happen again? We know there is a crisis in the foster care system whereby people are slow to come forward for many reasons. This situation and report are off-putting, to say the least. That is by no means strong enough language for the situation, but in the Louth-Meath area and HSE CHO area, foster families are in a crisis situation. I wonder about the knock-on effects.

Ultimately, what will the actions going forward be to ensure that Grace's experience never happens again to any other vulnerable child or adult? I hope that lessons are learned. I was disappointed not to get onto the health committee but, on reflection, being involved on the disability committee, I hope with all the statements here that we take action on that committee and make progress.

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