A young woman named ‘Grace’, whose experience in the foster care system was at the centre of a commission of inquiry, was “wronged and harmed” in many different ways, HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster has said.
The commission’s final report, published on Tuesday, said there were failures in relation to the standard of care provided to the intellectually disabled woman while in the care of a family referred to as “Family X” over a period of 20 years.
However, the inquiry, established in 2017 and led by Marjorie Farrelly SC, said evidence did not exist to support allegations that Grace was subjected to sexual, emotional or physical abuse while in care.
The commission made findings of failures in relation to the standard of care provided to Grace, her level of attendance at a day care centre, her presentation and feeding, and aspects of her finances while in the family’s care.
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Grace, who is now in her 40s and has been in the care of the State all her life, went into residential care in 2009.
Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland programme on Wednesday, Mr Gloster said he wanted to restate an apology to Grace and her mother.
What had happened in her case was “absolutely, truly shocking even by the standards of the 1990s”, he said, adding that there had been an “absolute, abject failure”.
When asked why the HSE had not been in a position to tell the commission who made the decision not to remove Grace from the care of Family X, Mr Gloster said the HSE put forward all of the information it had and answered questions truthfully.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said his reaction on reading the report was one of “extreme sadness and anger” and that Grace had been “failed by the State for the totality of her life experience”.
He told Newstalk there was a need to “fundamentally reflect” on how such inquiries are carried out, their effectiveness and whether there is a better way of getting to the truth.
He said the process took “far too long” and it was “deeply unsatisfactory” for all concerned that some of the “far more serious allegations” which led to it being established were not been upheld.
“We should have institutions that can get these investigations done more quickly, more effectively, and get answers because part of the purpose of this is to improve services, make sure these type of cases do not arise again into the future.”
Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness, who raised the Grace case numerous times in the Dáil, said Grace had been “let down badly by the State” and that he was “baffled” by the content of the commission’s report.
“Grace was battered and bruised at various times during the 20 years. The evidence is there because people would have examined her, they would have seen here. At one stage the hospital referred her report to the gardaí because they were so concerned,” he said.
“Is that not physical abuse at its worst – a young woman poorly kept in terms of appearance and wellbeing, in terms of bruises on her body?”
Mr McGuinness said the system had failed and it was “difficult to understand how an organisation like the HSE could have left Grace there for 20 years” when it was responsible for her care and protection.
“Someone failed to do that, either a person or group of people made the decision to leave her there. And that question needs to be answered,” he said.
Mr McGuinness said he “couldn’t understand how” the HSE reached a settlement with Grace’s family in the High Court for €6.3 million “if, as was said in the report, there was little evidence of sexual, physical or emotional abuse”.
Mr Gloster earlier said the settlement was not attached to past events, but was instead for Grace’s future care.
“It is more likely the case that we will never know the full life experience of Grace, and we have to accept that in many different ways she was wronged and harmed, but I can’t be specific beyond that. But what I can be specific about is her care was bad, her care was wrong,” he said.
Mr Gloster rejected suggestions that the HSE’s legal team had taken an adversarial approach while the commission carried out its work. “The team have absolutely assured me and we would have an expectation that people would conduct themselves well in a context like this.”
Fergus Finlay, the former Barnardos chief executive, said it was not correct for the commission’s report to say no evidence of abuse was found.
“They chose not to believe the evidence of abuse. There was overwhelming evidence of abuse, which they chose to dismiss. I can’t understand it,” he told Morning Ireland.
The commission has cost €13.6 million to date, with the cost expected to rise as more legal-cost decisions are processed.
Mr Finlay said he was disappointed with the report “after all these years, all this money, all this investment”.
“I’m getting angry now, and I just find the terrible injustice that was done to Grace and some of the other kids that I know, the terrible injustice has been compounded a thousand times by the incompetence of this effort.”
He said social workers and parents had found evidence of abuse and had made “very, very specific” complaints. There was “enormous” physical evidence of abuse, he said.
“I just find it impossible to believe that it can be so casually and easily dismissed.”
