SOUTH EAST FOSTER FAMILY MAY HAVE SEXUALLY ABUSED OVER 40 YOUNG PEOPLE
A Dáil committee has heard claims that the HSE sought to cover up the abuse of over 40 young people with intellectual disabilities by a foster family in the south-east.
The claims were raised at the Public Accounts Committee this morning, and will be sent to the Department of the Taoiseach and the gardaí.
A 200-page report was commissioned by the HSE into the incident, but it was not more widely known until the PAC received an excerpt of the report from a health service whistleblower.
It is reported that the former South-Eastern Health Board became aware of the concerns in 1992, and no children were placed with them after 1995.
But due to a clerical mistake, one person was left in their care until 2009.
The PAC chairman is John McGuinness.
“We agreed this morning to forward all of the paperwork relevant to this case to the Taoiseach’s office, because it goes to the heart of government in terms of reform that’s necessary in the HSE, and indeed the change of culture that’s needed in the context of how the State treats it’s citizens”, he said.
“In this particular case it has treated vulnerable, mentally-challenged individuals in the most appalling way”, he added.
