HSE boss expected to be called before PAC for third time

HSE director general Tony O’Brien is expected to be called before the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee for a third time to clarify issues in relation to a foster care child abuse scandal in the southeast.

Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin have insisted that Mr O’Brien should clarify the contradictions in his evidence and what exactly he knew in relation to the case of “Grace”, who was left with a foster family for 13 years after a decision to remove her from the home in April 1996 was overturned six months later. Grace is severely intellectually disabled and unable to speak.

Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald and Waterford TD David Cullinane have made a request to the chairman of the committee, Seán Fleming, that Mr O’Brien be recalled about the evidence given before the committee last week, which was an effort to clarify queries members had following a previous appearance.

Mr Cullinane said there were still outstanding issues and described Mr O’Brien’s demeanour and approach as “obfuscatory and not helpful”.

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He said the director general had to answer questions again in relation to his “inaccurate information” that the 2011 Devine report into Grace’s case, which was published this year, was not previously released due to Garda concerns.

The committee had also been inaccurately informed by Mr O’Brien in relation to individuals still working in the public service who had been involved in the decision to keep Grace in the foster home.

Mr O’Brien also had to answer questions again about his response to allegations that the whistleblowers who raised the alarm about Grace were being targeted in relation to funding, Mr Cullinane said.

Concerns

He added there were also concerns about Mr O’Brien’s criticism of media reporting of the case as “inaccurate” and his claims that freedom of information requests from RTÉ in relation to the case should have covered a longer timeframe. It turned out that RTÉ’s request had covered all years, but the HSE refused the request and said its scope should be limited.

Mr O’Brien told the committee last week it was not his intention to misinform it and he apologised that he had not been in a position to provide more complete information in February 2016 about which staff involved in the handling of the Grace case still worked in the public service.

Fianna Fáil health spokesman Billy Kelleher said Mr O’Brien’s comments last week to the Public Accounts Committee raised more questions than answers, and it was quite apparent that his remarks did not marry with his previous evidence to the committee.

“We now have a situation where the head of the HSE has provided two different versions of events to an Oireachtas committee. It’s quite unprecedented.”

He said Mr O’Brien “must outline in detail and precisely and factually what he knew and what was done” in relation to Grace’s case.

The importance of the issue could not be overstated because “there was a huge betrayal of a young girl by the State”.

Mr Kelleher added that the seriousness of the Grace report’s findings “requires all stakeholders to take responsibility for their actions and their comments that are put into the public domain”.

“When State agencies such as the HSE are called to provide evidence to an Oireachtas committee, we need to be confident that what is being put on the record is truthful and based in fact.”