Mandatory reporting is commonly advocated as a way of dealing with allegations of sex abuse. However, the report of the review group on the handling of the McColgan children's case by the North-Western Health Board makes it clear that the board was aware of allegations of abuse for many years, but this was not enough to save the children.
Time after time from 1979 on, one or other of the six children came to the attention of some individual or body within the health board, reporting physical injury as a result of assault or, in 1983, horrific sexual abuse at the hands of their father, Joe McColgan. Yet in 1984 the case involving the eldest, Gerard, was closed, and little attention was paid to the family afterwards.
The first time the family came to the board's attention was when the second child, Sophia, then nine, was taken to hospital with injuries, following an assault by her father. The review group reports that this incident was dealt with "very competently", a case conference was called and there was extensive contact between the family and the social work services afterwards. However, the GP was not involved following this incident.
Gerard was the second family member to come to the board's attention, again with what were described as "non-accidental injuries". This was within three months of Sophia's hospitalisation. Although there was legislation in place at the time for dealing with the physical abuse of children (sexual abuse was not yet seen as a widespread problem), no legal advice was sought which could, in the group's opinion, set a baseline "for the ongoing assessment and monitoring of the risk to the children". There were no moves to take them into care.
It is clear from the report that there was confusion about the role of the GP in the case, Dr Desmond Moran. Health board personnel recalled him being a "key worker", but, according to the report, he has no recollection of this. He was not sent minutes of the case conference at which this was discussed.
The report found that in 1981 there was "no evidence any systematic review, management or implementation of the case conference decisions or formal method of disengaging from working with the family . . . There appears to have been undue reliance on a system of intervention aimed at using the GP to influence the father's behaviour."
Yet evidence of abuse continued to accumulate. Gerard was taken to the local hospital's casualty department with a broken arm, after being struck by his father with a shovel. A month later he told gardai his father was responsible. Gardai then contacted the health board.
The acting senior social worker wrote to the paediatrician in the case saying that no legal action had been taken following the previous incidents, and that there was not enough evidence for action at that time. But, according to the review group, there is no evidence of any legal advice having been taken and no case conference was held.
Gardai did prosecute, but on October 20th, 1982, following a lengthy adjournment, the case was struck out. There is no record of the board being kept aware of progress by gardai.
In 1981 a younger boy, Keith, was twice taken to casualty with injuries. No cause was given, and no connection appeared to be made with his siblings' records. He had frequent visits to the GP with ailments which, he now says, were psychosomatic.
Gerard next turned to his school for help, running away to the vice-principal's home in the middle of the night in June 1983. He was 13. Following prompt action by the teacher, he was taken into care with the agreement of his parents. There was a case conference, and this was attended by the GP, who noted: "Try and advise father and help situation. Social worker to monitor G and family, watch for assaults . . ."
While in care Gerard disclosed that he and Sophia were being sexually abused by their father. This was denied vehemently by their mother. The GP could find no physical evidence of sexual abuse. For about six months Gerard persisted with his allegations, then, following one of his periodic visits home, he withdrew them.
Although legal advice was sought by the board in April and May of that year, the report finds that "comprehensive chronological information" was not presented to the lawyer, and no legal intervention ensued.
Gerard finally left home, and the social worker was ordered off the farm by the father. The senior social worker instructed her not to go there again, and the case was effectively closed. The five remaining children were left at the mercy of a man who, gardai and the health board knew, had physically assaulted at least two of his children and who, some health board workers firmly believed, was sexually abusing them.
Sophia was again taken to hospital with injuries in 1984 and 1985. No cause was given and she was treated and discharged.
In 1991 the Child Care Act was enacted, marking a change in the culture surrounding child protection. When the younger girls, Michelle and Sophia, disclosed that they were being sexually abused in 1993, "the system for dealing with allegations of abuse were correctly and promptly applied", according to the report.