Grace was born on November 24th, 1978, to a teenage mother who had been admitted to a mother and baby home in Cork two months earlier.
She had a difficult birth and suffered significant trauma to her brain, leaving her with a profound, lifelong intellectual and physical disability and she is non-verbal.
What does the commission of investigation report say
The Farrelly Commission report – compiled by senior counsel Marjorie Farrelly – describes how she requires full-time assistance with almost every aspect of life, including toileting, dressing, feeding and activities.
She was placed first in a children’s home and then, aged four, went to live with foster parents. The report says they were “very fond of her”, and Grace attended school. In 1989, that family, however, was unable to continue caring for her.
Aged 11, Grace was placed in the “foster” home at the centre of the commission report, by the then South Eastern Health Board, initially as a short-term placement.
The home was never assessed as to its suitability for care placements and was never recognised as a foster home or respite service. The foster mother was 50 years old at the time and the father was 67.
How long did Grace stay in the foster home?
Grace, who was one of 47 children placed with the family, stayed there for 20 years. This was despite credible allegations of abuse at the home, including in 1992 from the family of another girl who stayed there and another from another family in 1996.
Concerns had also been raised by the Brothers of Charity, who stopped placing young people in the home in 1991.
In 1995, Grace, with the reluctant agreement of the foster parents, got a place in a day service following a GP’s intervention.
When was she removed from the home?
In 1996, the health board decided to remove Grace from the home based on concerns about possible abuse. In October 1996, that was overturned, though all further South Eastern Health Board placements stopped.
Plans drawn up in 1999 and 2001 to gradually remove Grace from the home were not implemented. The report notes one account stating the foster mother said in 2001 that she relied upon the allowances associated with the placement and had asked that Grace remain with her until 2006, when her grandson was to turn 18.
Several whistleblowers sought to bring Grace’s situation and the health board’s handling of it to light.
The first took up her case in 2007. His view was that the “foster” home was inappropriate and that Grace should be removed. He had serious concerns about sleeping arrangements in the home, the presence of other men, Grace’s personal and dental hygiene.
What was the whistleblower’s recommendation?
His recommendation that the HSE apply for her wardship was not acted on.
In the end, he contacted Grace’s birth mother in 2009 and told her of his concerns. It was the first she heard of these.
She demanded that her daughter be removed immediately and she was, on July 17th, 2009.
A second, working in a service attended by Grace, brought her concerns to TDs and the Public Accounts Committee. It, under then chairman John McGuiness, expressed serious concerns about the case through 2015 and 2016.
The Health Service Executive commissioned two reviews into the foster home – one in 2012 by consultant Conal Devine and another in 2015 by the consultancy firm Resilience Ireland.
Amid increasing calls for a public inquiry, senior counsel Conor Dignam was engaged to report on the adequacy of the HSE reviews. He said they were insufficiently independent of the HSE.
Where is Grace now?
In 2017, Ms Farrelly was commissioned to conduct an independent investigation into the case. After many protracted delays, it was published on Tuesday.
Grace, now aged 46, is living in the southeast in a residential setting. Her former foster parents are dead.
The mother, who spoke to The Irish Times in 2016 and denied all allegations, died in 2024.
