Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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The next item is in the name of Deputy Pringle. Before I call him, I need to bring some matters to the attention of the House. His issue relates to the Brandon report. He has given the Ceann Comhairle notice that he intends to name persons in his contribution.

The Ceann Comhairle has advised Deputy Pringle that he is obliged to abide by the rulings of the Chair, which preclude the naming of persons outside the House.

I am advised that the Deputy has given private notice of intention under Standing Order 71B to the Ceann Comhairle. I must advise him of the long-standing rules of the Chair, which preclude the naming of identifiable individuals in such a manner as may affect their reputation. Notwithstanding the notice he has given under Standing Order 71B, he is required to abide by these rulings in his contribution to the House. Persons outside the House are not in a position to defend their good name when utterances involving serious charges against them are made. For this reason, it is incumbent on all Members to use the privilege of the House in a responsible and fair manner.

This is not in any way intended to curtail what the Deputy has to say but once he has been advised of the situation, he knows if he proceeds regardless he may find himself with limited privilege, which could have consequences. He is an experienced parliamentarian. I will have to interrupt him if he names individuals. He will have to find another way to do it and we will all be happier as a result.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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I thank the Acting Chairman for his warning in regard to my contribution. While names may be mentioned, no aspersions will be cast on their character in what I say. I will outline facts in relation to the situation.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I will have to interrupt him if he names names.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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I cast no aspersions at all.

I thank the Minister of State for taking this Topical Issue matter; I believe it is very important. I asked that this matter is taken because of the ongoing issues, which I know the Minister of State is heavily involved with, around the Brandon report and the continuing situation in Ard Gréine Court, Ballybofey, County Donegal. The Attorney General came out earlier this week with his view that the Minister of State is not allowed to publish the report, but the HSE can, and should, publish the report. I call on the HSE to do the right thing and publish the full Brandon report. It is the least the families deserve in this regard.

The reluctance to publish the report leaves me questioning why. What occurred in Ard Gréine and the lack of action taken by the HSE to deal with it was appalling, but it has at this stage been widely reported on. Much of what is in the report is on the public record anyway, so what is left? In my mind, it is the HSE cover-up and the inaccuracies in the report that would be exposed by publication that now motivates the executive.

I want to give the Minister of State a timeline of my interactions on this issue and ask her if it raises any questions for her. On 7 October 2016, I met with the whistle-blower. He had previously brought the allegations to another Deputy in Donegal, but did not hear anything further from him, and he wanted action taken in relation to them. On 4 November, I met with Ms Denise Curran and handed her copies of documents that outlined the allegations. I have these documents to hand, which are important as well. According to parliamentary question replies, the HSE held four meetings on the issue between then and the middle of July 2017. After that there were no meetings until March 2018. Coincidently, I was on sick leave during this period. In early February 2018, I attempted to contact the head of social care, Mr. Frank Morrison, without success. I then raised the matter-----

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I am sorry to interrupt the Deputy. I must bring it to his attention that the Ceann Comhairle has already ruled on this. The Deputy cannot name names. I do not wish to be unpleasant. I know what the Deputy is trying to do but he has sufficient latitude and is sufficiently experienced to be able to continue to talk to the matter without naming names and still have the same effect.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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I will take the Acting Chairman's views on board.

I attempted to contact the head of social care without success. I then raised the matter with the then Minister of State, Finian McGrath - I can say the then Minister of State's name - and provided the same documentation to him.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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The then Minister of State is not a Member of the House anymore.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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So I cannot say his name either?

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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You can say "the then Minister of State".

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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Okay.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Eventually we will come to it together.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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He then sent the correspondence to the head of social care and, lo and behold, a flurry of meetings started to happen. There were more than 20 meetings in 2018 alone. What strikes me when I compare the content of the Brandon report with information I have garnered from freedom of information, FOI, requests and my email records is that some things do not add up. The head of social care told me in an email on 4 May 2018 that he had the final draft of the report by look-back review investigation team. Yet the HSE, according to FOI requests, said that the first draft only existed from 31 July, nearly 3 months later.

Community healthcare organisation, CHO, 1 officials told the national independent review panel, NIRP, that the first time it knew of allegations of rape was from Mr. Finian McGrath’s correspondence. It also told him that there were no allegations of rape in the documents I gave them, which I referred to earlier. Yet these are the same documents. Is it a simple coincidence that the HSE now tell me that the original copies I gave it do not exist? There is no record of any of the documents that the HSE based this whole investigation on within the organisation at this time. These documents were not disclosed to the NIRP for more than a year into its investigation. The panel had to write to CHO 1 officials to request them after I was interviewed by the panel investigators. The emergence of either the lost documents or the new information from the Minister was also never mentioned to me in my interactions with the head of social care throughout 2018.

After the report was finalised in November 2018, I had a meeting with the head of social care and the chief officer of CHO 1, in which they showed me a report that I was not allowed to read or even handle. It was a farcical encounter bordering on the bizarre. There are many more examples I want to highlight but I do not have the time to do so. The chief executive officer of the HSE, Mr. Paul Reid, said that the HSE did not want to publish the Brandon report in full because it did not want to compromise the scoping review into whether disciplinary action was required. Does anyone here really believe that excuse? Does anyone believe that the HSE intends to take any disciplinary action on foot of the Brandon report? It has been around for a number of years and nothing has happened. It needs to be published and published in full.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I am sorry for having interrupted so I allowed a certain amount of latitude because of the interruptions.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue again and pursuing it which he has done so single-handedly for a number of months with me personally. I concur with his opening statement when he again asked the HSE to publish the full Brandon report. I second that. It is important to acknowledge that the Deputy has done great work.

Much like the Deputy, I had hoped that I would be able to publish the Brandon report, after the HSE decided it was not in a position to do so. It is also important to put on record that it was unfortunate the HSE published the report on the final day this House sat before Christmas, which gave us no opportunity to have a comprehensive conversation on it. I welcome the fact that the Ceann Comhairle has said that time would be set aside to have a good discussion and statements on it in early 2022.

Having sought the Attorney General's advice on the matter, it is clear that the Minister for Health or myself may not direct the HSE to publish the report. No legal basis has been identified that would permit the Minister or me to publish the report. The Attorney General is of the view that it would not be permissible for the Minister for Health to publish the report where the HSE, as the body responsible for publication under the NIRP guidelines, has determined the report should not be published. The NIRP guidelines give representations of confidentiality, and persons who participated in the process might rely upon those representations. Undertakings as to confidentiality and non-publication were also given, which might be relied upon. No detail was given as to HR inquiries, but publication of the contents of the report might adversely affect the conduct of any such inquiry or disciplinary procedures. In addition, redaction does not arise given the report should not be published and the Attorney General's office queried whether, in any event, any meaningful reduction was feasible.

Regarding the recent reports published by HIQA, like the Deputy I too was taken aback by the findings, particularly in the context of all we learned from the Brandon report. The recently published reports by HIQA relate to four inspections undertaken in September and October 2021 on the Ard Gréine campus. HIQA inspectors found there continued to be high levels of non-compliance in three of the four centres.

It is important to note that HIQA advises that, in these recent inspections, inspectors did not identify incidents of sexual abuse similar to those identified in the Brandon report. However, they did find that there were behavioural issues that were not being appropriately responded to. Inspectors required the HSE to address the issues immediately and to escalate its programme of change for the centre. I am advised that, in response, the HSE implemented a full reconfiguration of the Ard Greine campus, which it states will give stronger management oversight of the delivery of care. The HSE has submitted detailed compliance plans, and the overall management improvement plan for the campus is updated monthly for submission to HIQA to address these issues. I am told that the HSE plans have been accepted by the regulator and that implementation will be monitored by HIQA and senior management.

Separately, it is important to note that I await an update from the HSE regarding a file review it conducted in the community healthcare organisation, CHO, area for the period from 1991 to 2002, which reflects the period of time during which Brandon was in the care of disability services. Records were screened for all notations referring to any alleged or actual sexual conduct during that time. It is important that the dates the Deputy has mentioned here today also be taken into account as part of that review. I confirm to the Deputy that I will continue to engage with the HSE both locally and nationally on the issues raised by the Brandon report. I will read the rest of my speech in my concluding remarks.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State for her response, which was very worthwhile. What is stark in respect of the reports of HIQA inspections which were published last week is that every one of them identified management failures as something that have to be dealt with. The reports are actually very complimentary of the staff, most of whom are agency staff. There is something badly wrong with the management in that facility. That really has to be dealt with.

The history the HSE has given of its interaction with families is inconsistent with my experience of this case and leaves an awful lot to be desired. The chief officer emailed Donegal's public representatives last week on foot of the HIQA report to say that the HSE had informed residents and their families of the inspection findings and the improvement actions and works that were being progressed as a result, yet I know that contact was made with one family the night before the HIQA report was published. That is all. They were just told that a report was going to be published in the morning. That is not acceptable. After all that has gone on, that is not acceptable. If I can get that from one phone call, there is obviously something going on. The chief officer is emailing the elected representative to tell them that this is happening but this is what I can get. There is something badly wrong with that situation.

The national independent review panel, NIRP, has come out of this fairly well so far. I hope it will stay that way but time will tell. How can we be sure that these types of failures have not happened in other facilities? How can we be sure there are not NIRP reports that nobody knows about sitting on a shelf in the HSE gathering dust? How many other Brandon-type reports are there that have not crossed our path?

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I will speak a little bit quicker because I have to get two pieces in. Records were screened for all notations referring to any alleged or actual sexual conduct during this timeframe. The content of the file review raised some concerns within the HSE and, in that context, it has been agreed that this report will now remain as a draft while a further validation is completed by a team appointed by the HSE nationally in order to address any queries and concerns. This validation is ongoing and I expect an update on this report at the end of this month. I confirm to the Deputy and to the House that I will be continuing to engage with the HSE both locally and nationally on the issues raised in the Brandon report and its recommendations, as well as these HIQA reports. I will also be monitoring the HSE's ongoing work very closely to ensure it addresses the failures highlighted in the report and that it progresses the actions it committed to, thus ensuring families and service users can have confidence in their services and that such failures do not recur.

I appreciate the view the Deputy has expressed in the House this evening. I would like to be able to assure the Deputy and the House that no such other incidents have occurred or are occurring but, in light of the HIQA reports and other ongoing incidents that are currently being looked at, what I can say is that I have learned a lot from the NIRP process and that, if required to in future, I will utilise a different method of review to ensure the fullest level of openness and transparency is achieved. I can also say that the safeguarding of adults who are at risk of abuse and harm from others in the context of their interactions with the health sector is a key objective of the Department of Health, every statutory body under its aegis and every health and social care service that interacts with such adults. As the Minister of State responsible, I believe that the focus must be on ensuring that the findings and recommendations of the NIRP report are addressed appropriately. It is imperative that lessons are learned and timely improvements are made in the system, where needed.

The NIRP recommendation seeking the appointment of a strategic working group tasked with developing a new vision for disability services in this area in line with national policy is important. It is important to note that the NIRP has stated that this should be chaired by someone who is able to challenge the old order and to hold its membership to account for affecting change. This speaks volumes in respect of the issues that have been unearthed and that need to be remedied in CHO area 1.