Tusla says investigating historic abuse allegations is challenging

The chief executive of Tusla has said the agency faces substantial challenges in investigating historical cases involving allegations made 20, 30, 40 or even 50 years ago.

Fred McBride told an Oireachtas Committee on Wednesday that the traditional training for social workers was for child protection, usually when an assessment is being made in relation to immediate risk.

“They have not traditionally been skilled, or trained to deal with forensic type interviews of alleged perpetrators. It is only recently we are developing that special skill set,” said Mr Bride.

Mr Mc Bride was speaking at the Oireachtas joint committee on Children and Youth Affairs. The agency had been invited to appear before the committee to explain its handling of the case involving Sergeant Maurice McCabe.

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False allegations of sexual abuse were made against Sgt McCabe that were not removed from Tusla’s record for 18 months after it had been established they had no basis.

During that period, when it had been established the allegations were false, Mr McCabe was contacted by Tusla and informed he was being investigated.

Mr McBride told the Committee, chaired by Fine Gael TD Jim Daly, that the agency had been contacted by the Tribunal of Inquiry looking into this and other matters, and so he was not in a position to comment on the individual case.

Mr Daly firmly ruled out of order any attempts to raise the case including comments by his Fine Gael colleague Senator Catherine Noone that the apology would bring “cold comfort” to the McCabe family.

Mr McBride repeated his apology to the McCabe family and for the distress and upset they have endured. He added: “I think it is important to also point out that I have no knowledge, or evidence that Tusla staff acted with any malice of intent.

I also wish to make clear to you that if I did receive such evidence or information I would intervene, personally, immediately and publicly,” he said.

In his opening statement, Mr McBride referred to evidence which showed that almost all inquiries into serious cases of child abuse “highlighted the lack of information sharing across key agencies as a key contributing factor to things going wrong”.

Asked by Ann Rabbitte, Fianna Fáil spokesman on children, about the processes used by the agency to deal with historical abuse cases and how they were prioritised, Mr McBride said: “If we have an allegation made by an adult about something that happened to them 20, 30, 40, or 50 years ago and sometimes with the passage of time it may not be clear, or even whether or not the alleged perpetrator is still alive.”

“If we are asked to prioritise that kind of case over a child now in immediate risk of harm, we will prioritise the child,” he added.

In response to a series of questions put by Sinn Féin TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, and also by Fine Gael’s Tom Neville, Mr McBride and Tusla colleagues Jim Gibson and Cormac Quinlan disclosed details of how the agency deals with complaints.

The agency confirmed an investigation is being conducted by the Data Protection Commissioner. In relation to what Tusla does to files that contain false allegations, Mr Quinlan said the files were not destroyed but are kept in perpetuity.

He said there were provisions in data protection allegations to erase false information from files, but a record of that action was retained.

Jan O’Sullivan of the Labour Party said she was concerned about the Constitutional balance between the right of the child to protection and the right of the alleged perpetrator to his or her good name.

She wondered contact was made with a person against whom an allegation was made?

Mr Quinlan said a person accused of abuse was written to and afforded a response, and also a right of appeal. He said the procedure was quite robust.