Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want it noted for the record that the Minister for Health never appears here for any of the Commencement matters that I submit, no matter how grave. Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence but three times or more is a strategy. This is a matter of such gravity and I infer from his absence today an attitude towards the issues that I am raising continuously in this House, which shows a contempt, not for me but for this House and Commencement matters in general as well as for the most vulnerable people in Irish society on whose part I am advocating. I apologise to the Minister of State for that intervention and ask him not to infer anything personal from it.

I am asking the Minister of State to comment, although I do not know how meaningfully he can, given his portfolio is transport. That said, he is a barrister and might be able to assist me with the case of Ms Caitlin Ada Joanne Hassan. I give her full name because she is a human being. She is a young woman with an intellectual disability whose mum, Louise, placed her in the care of a section 38 service provider, Avista. While in their care, she was physically and sexually assaulted. As a parent and a carer myself, I know that to hand one's child - notwithstanding that he or she is an adult - over to the care of another person or institution and to have that child physically and sexually assaulted is unspeakable. I do not have the words to adequately describe the moral injury inflicted on that whole family. When Louise made the complaint to An Garda Síochána and to the service provider, Avista, the latter commissioned a report, a so-called trust in care, TIC, report, which has not been provided to the family. It has been circulated to other parties but not to the family. It has not been provided to the mum or to the survivor, the person who was targeted in this way.

I wrote to the HSE on behalf of the family and the reply I got is emblematic of the attitude of disability service managers and the HSE in general towards the most vulnerable citizens in Ireland. In the second paragraph the HSE says: "...Avista advise that engagement with Louise [Caitlin Hassan's mother] has been challenging over a period of time..." What a word to use. This is a mother whose daughter has been sexually assaulted. The word "challenging" implies that there is some fault or wrongdoing on the part of the mother because she is asking questions and that has been my experience and the experience of all of the people who correspond with me in relation to the HSE. It is not a rights-based approach, it is a grace and favour or charity-based approach. In the third paragraph we have this gobbledygook: " CHO DNCC [whatever that means] were informed by Avista the TIC was reviewed by a legal professional...". What legal professional? Was it a solicitor, a barrister, or a senior counsel? Why is that legal professional not named? I do not see why the legal professional is not named. The letter further states that a new, or "DE novo" trust in care report is to be published but the author, the disability services manager, says that there is nothing in the TIC policy to provide that a copy should be provided to the complainant. However, there is also nothing in the policy that says it should be withheld or be prohibited from being released to the family. I am at a loss to understand why the Minister, who is not here, the HSE, all of the king's horses and all of the king's men and women, are all prepared to use the resources of the State, taxpayers' money, to come up with these reports which are then withheld from a family. As far as I am aware, and the Minister of State may be able to advise me on this because he is a barrister, clients instruct legal professionals and not the other way around. It should be clear and obvious to everybody that there is a categorical, ethical imperative that this report and the information contained therein be released to the mum and family of this young lady. Have we not learned anything in this country from the abuse of people in institutions? Have we learned nothing? Why is the HSE withholding information and gaslighting a mother? I am sorry that it is the Minister of State, Deputy Lawless, who has to respond to me on this morning. I await his reply but I assume he agrees with me that it is moral legalism at its worst to deny a family access to truth, knowledge, information and power. This information should be released to the family.