2 weeks Ago
It is unsettling to think that, according to the “Grace” case whistleblower, he told then health minister Simon Harris in 2019 that the investigation was likely to be a “boondoggle” – a waste of time. Iain Smith, who gave around 700 hours of his time to the inquiry, believes the 2,000-page report has confirmed his worst fears. Despite the €13.
6m spent, we still do not know exactly what happened, why it happened or if enough has been done to make sure it cannot happen again. Someone was responsible for not removing the non-verbal girl named Grace from a home, despite so many alarm bells being sounded. Mr Smith told RTÉ he was adamant that the scandal was not so much a systematic state failure, but more a “long-running intrigue”.
It was, he said, a story of “entanglement”. To try to “recharacterise it”, as he believed the Farrelly Commission that oversaw the investigation had done, is a fundamental error. So alarmed was he by an interview he had done with Grace, and by other concerns he had about her, that he submitted a report of his own.
He alleged that a “great deal happened...
of shenanigans and intrigue” between him handing in the report in January 2008 and Grace moving from foster care in July 2009. His engagement with the commission had convinced him that the whole exercise was a waste of time. Mr Smith said his experience would be seen as a “strong deterrent to whistleblowers”.
The national advocacy service for adults with disabilities is ‘chronically underfunded’ Despite the cost, there are far too many unanswered questions and remaining red flags for anyone to be satisfied that Ireland’s child protection safeguards are robust. HSE chief Bernard Gloster has vehemently denied there were efforts to conceal reports of abuse within the HSE. However, he did acknowledge concerns about what is perceived as the “absence of findings” in the Farrelly Commission’s report.
Clearly, there is a moral imperative to do more to ensure that such a tragedy can never occur again. Derval McDonagh, the chief executive of Inclusion Ireland, has argued that further protective legislation is needed if the State is to truly show it takes the matter seriously. She said the national advocacy service for adults with disabilities is “chronically underfunded”, with long waiting lists.
Caoilfhionn Gallagher, the Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, was equally dismayed at the findings. She felt more answers about the Grace case came from whistleblowers and work done by the Public Accounts Committee than from the report. She also believes that outstanding core questions about what happened to Grace, and the lack of accountability, have to be addressed.
Most worrying of all was that the report does not address continuing issues about risks to children, she added. Taoiseach Micheál Martin said his reaction on reading the report was one of “extreme sadness and anger”, but as the leader of our country and the Government, he has a duty to channel that anger into action to ensure no child is ever again so shamefully let down..
