Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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I raise an issue that is very personal to a constituent of mine named William Porter, who was falsely accused of abusing both his son and daughter. These accusations destroyed his life. His family has suffered hugely, with William himself developing significant mental and physical health problems as a result of the stress this has caused. It now seems incredible that these false claims were believed for so long by the authorities and that Tusla seemingly even fabricated a confession from William.

The situation began in 2010 when William was falsely accused of physically abusing his 13-year-old son, who lived with him in Donegal. His young daughter lived in the North and William was not believed by social services there, despite his son claiming it was a false accusation and that no such incident happened. It took Tusla three years to investigate the alleged incidents. No appropriate explanation has ever been given by Tusla as to why it took three years to investigate the matter. As a result of the delay in investigating these false allegations, all attempts by William to have access to his daughter in the North and to clear his name were met by accusations of harassment by social services staff in the North.

Inexplicably, when Tusla did investigate three years later, it fabricated its records, claiming that William had confessed to a Tusla official to abusing his son.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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These are serious allegations, Deputy.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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They have been clarified in the courts, as the Leas-Cheann Comhairle will hear in a second. The false recording of a confession was not rectified for two years afterwards. It was two years before William found out, through a freedom of information request, that the fabricated confession by him was on his file. In 2014, the Garda contacted William to explain that during one of the rare occasions when William did get to see his daughter at the time, he had been accused of punching her in the stomach three times. William's name was not cleared until his daughter admitted 11 months later that she was told to say that William punched her.

All records relating to William having abused his son have now, rightly, been deleted by Tusla and Tusla has since officially apologised to William for its failures regarding him and his family. That is the correct position. In regard to the accusation that he assaulted his daughter, those false accusations were handled so badly by the authorities that it has recently resulted in her receiving compensation from the State in the High Court due to the stress that was caused. William's family has lived on either side of the Border at times and, as such, it has been failed both by the services in this jurisdiction and in the North. Partly because of Tusla's action, the matter is still not resolved in the North.

We need to do better in future. We need to ensure the ordeal that William and his family have gone through is not repeated for another family. William asked me to put these issues on the public record. His life has been destroyed as a result of it. It involved a State agency. I understand the seriousness of what I am saying. William only found out by chance, when he put in a freedom of information request, that it was on his file that a Tusla official said William admitted to abusing his child. That record has now been deleted, an apology given and compensation paid to his daughter as a result. However, this family was destroyed.

I commend some of the officials in Tusla whom I worked with when I met William many years later. I saw what I believed to be a person who was genuinely broken as a result of what had happened. When I reached out to Tusla, it did facilitate a process, which took some time, whereby we got to the point where apologies have been given, wrongs have been righted, files have been deleted and the record has been corrected. However, this should never have happened.

The consequences for this family are long-lasting. Maybe it is an opportunity for the Minister on behalf of Tusla to echo that apology to William and his family.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this really important issue and outlining in detail the implications for this family of the incorrect and wrong allegations that were made against them. I also thank him for recognising that Tusla has made an apology and that staff in Tusla - which is a big organisation with a lot of very good people and we all recognise that - has done its best to make reparations here in this particular situation. The details of this individual were brought to my Department's attention yesterday so I am not in a position to give the Deputy a very detailed response right now. I am very happy to continue to liaise with him and I can do it on paper or we can have another Topical Issue Debate on this on another basis. I hope he does not mind but he has outlined a lot more very important detail here this morning and I would like to read into it a bit more so I can give a more considered response to the issue. I am absolutely happy to give that more considered response.

Since this Topical Issue matter was raised yesterday, we have been in touch with Tusla. My Department raised it with Tusla's chief operations officer. We requested an urgent report and urgent details on this matter. We are very happy to engage with the Deputy further on this particular point.

I will just step back from this case in terms of where an issue is raised regarding Tusla more broadly. There are routes for people who have similar concerns. They can make a complaint through the Office of the Ombudsman, which investigates complaints made about public services. If an individual has a concern about a social worker's practice, he or she can contact CORU, which is the regulator for many of the health and social care professions. Within Tusla, there is the child abuse substantiation procedure, and that is a revision of the policy originally brought in in 2014. It is based on learning that indicated the need to further enhance consistency of practice across Tusla. In addition, changes were also required to incorporate new legal judgments into this complex area of law and practice.

The current child abuse substantiation procedure operated by Tusla has been in place since June 2022. The procedure assists social workers in achieving an optimum standard of child protection practice when they are carrying out those substantiation assessments. This procedure allows Tusla to function within the correct parameters of legal obligations, fair procedures and information management. We all know how important it is that complaints or allegations of child abuse are investigated properly and thoroughly. However, the Deputy has also illustrated what happens when an incorrect, inaccurate and wrong allegation is made and the absolute damage that can do. Over the years, Tusla has continued to enhance the approach it takes to the investigation of these allegations and the 2022 document is the most recent document. From what the Deputy has told me, I gather these allegations significantly predated that document so work on the development of the process to address these types of allegations has continued. I am happy to continue to engage with him on this particular case.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister. I appreciate his response and that he will give a more comprehensive response at a later stage. I raised this issue because William is in a different place since 2016. He now lives happily with his son and daughter in Donegal on a permanent basis. The impact this has had on all three of them has been immeasurable. William wants to go public with his experience. He wants to do all he can to prevent other families going through what he went through and I have great respect for him in doing this.

Tusla has admitted that the impact of their intervention on this family has been significant and that its delays in responding to the concerns have been a part of this negative impact on the family. I understand those working in social and children's services have the most difficult of jobs and that mistakes can be made by all of us, including people in Tusla. However, this is an exceptional case that had significant consequences. It is not just the mistake; it is the time it took for William Poster's issue to be resolved and for him to have his name cleared. That needs to be highlighted. It took three years from the original accusation. Even if this was not a false accusation, which it was, why did it take three years for this accusation to be investigated? William and his family were put through a decade of hell because of false accusations and repeatedly not being believed. During this time, William's reputation was destroyed, his business ceased and he lost access to his daughter. He developed significant mental and physical health problems and we can never underestimate the impact this has on somebody and their family.

I understand that significant changes have been made to Tusla and how the Garda approach such matters since these events. Have the appropriate actions been taken to ensure such a failing does not happen ever again? That is what William wants and that is why I am raising this. We cannot underestimate the impact this has on families. Like the Minister, I also commend all of those in Tusla who do a massive job, and I know William does not want to cast aspersions. We recognise Tusla is made up of really passionate people who care for families and children. In this case, systems broke down, accusations were made and a family was destroyed. The family will continue to live with the consequences, even though apologies and compensation have been made, and errors have been corrected.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I am pleased that the Deputy said that William is in a different and better place now. That is something positive to be taken from this. The Deputy is right to accept mistakes are made everywhere across Departments and agencies, and in every aspect of life. However, when a mistake is made, it needs to be quickly owned, responded to and resolved. What the Deputy has outlined does not show that. It shows that the mistake was resisted and potentially there were even attempts to cover over what happened. That is not acceptable in any Government agency.

Tusla is ten years old. Its tenth anniversary will be in January. It is an organisation that has undergone a lot of change in that time. In the three and a half years I have been Minister, I have seen real reform and real efforts to change across all elements of the organisation under Bernard Gloster and now under Kate Duggan. In terms of the incredibly important but also sensitive issue of investigations of allegations of child sexual abuse, that has changed as well. I understand the false allegation against William probably would have been investigated under a 2014 policy. There is now a 2022 policy that has learned from incidents such as this and learned how a social worker and the team around an investigation can accurately investigate and probe an allegation in a sensitive way but in a way that respects the rights of all parties - those subject to the allegation, those who are making the allegation and the potential victim of abuse. The Deputy has raised an important issue and I have been able to provide only an initial answer today. I will come back to him in writing on this and if he wants to raise this as a Topical Issue Matter subsequently, I will be happy for him to do so.