Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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436. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will elaborate on the actions that his Department has taken in regard to historical sexual abuse within an organisation (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35425/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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My Department has taken a number of actions in response to findings of formerly poor safeguarding policies and practice in the organisation referred to by the Deputy. These have included suspension of Departmental funding pending the appointment of a new Board, which is now in place, and the commissioning in 2018 of an independent review of governance within the organisation,  as well as a follow up review, published in May 2020, which found that the recommendations of the original review had been satisfactorily implemented, while identifying some outstanding matters which were subsequently addressed by the organisation in a report to my Department in September 2020.  

In addition, the organisation in question commissioned its own independent learning review of historical sexual abuse within the organisation. My predecessor met with this reviewer in May 2020 and was reassured, notwithstanding his very serious findings in relation to historical practices, by his satisfaction with current governance and safeguarding practice within the organisation.