Report likely to reveal a litany of inaction

By Noel Baker

Saturday, March 06, 2010

A FATHER convicted of the systematic sexual abuse of his son was sentenced to 14 years in prison yesterday, but the reckoning is only just beginning.

The man’s crimes – and those of his wife, convicted last year and jailed for seven years on charges of abuse and incest – are likely to resonate for decades, not least with their children, whose lives have been comprehensively destroyed by the barely believable levels of abuse dished out by those charged with their care.

Also charged with their care, and also culpable for the spectacular failings, is the state, primarily the HSE/local health board. The report of the inquiry into these failings is likely to be published next month, and it is understood that it will catalogue a litany of inaction and delayed intervention which could lead to calls for greater accountability across the HSE.

Primarily, it is understood the report will focus on the lack of action in a key period between a High Court injunction secured by the children’s mother in October 2000, and the vacating of that order nine months later in May 2001. This fateful time window left the children at the mercy of their parents, and it was during this time that the sexual abuse documented in court in recent weeks began.

This could, conceivably, leave the option open to the children affected to sue the state in the future, particularly given that the report is also likely to focus on the lack of effective intervention by the state in their lives well before the year 2000.

To put it in context, the court heard that the health board’s first involvement with the family was way back in 1989, around the time of the birth their first child.

It is understood the HSE affidavit acknowledges that, and that a neighbour registered concerns a year later, in 1990, that the mother and father were drinking day and night and even giving alcohol to their child.

It is arguable that, at this stage, a supervision order could have been applied for, but it was not, nor was any effective action taken in the ensuing years despite teachers and others in the community expressing misgivings about the developmental problems suffered by the children coming through the school system.

This informal concern finally transferred to formal action in 1996 when it became apparent the children were suffering serious neglect.

In November of that year a social worker is understood to have decried the living conditions in the home, where children were being left unsupervised by adults and instead left in the care of older siblings. The parents’ issues with alcohol and the state of the family home constituted a situation of serious neglect and were noted.

By 1999, a relative of the family expressed concern about the children’s hygiene, and the fact that their parents appeared to be drinking heavily. The children had chronic head lice and displayed other signs of neglect.

The glacial rate of progress in tackling these problems meant it was 2000 before, it seems, a case conference was convened at which it was decided that serious action needed to be taken. It was at this stage, however, when the group Ograchas Naoimh Papain became involved on the side of the children’s mother and she sought a High Court injunction which effectively paralysed the HSE.

However, it is likely to be argued that while the High Court action brought by the mother to prevent the children being taken into foster care was highly unusual, the HSE still had options open to it, but failed to follow them through.

The injunction was taken on October 23, 2000, and it is obvious that the parents of the children were seeking to cover up any abuse that was going on. In the course of making the application the mother said there was nothing voluntary about giving her children over for adoption; she denied any charges of abuse. The High Court granted the injunction.

However, it seems the HSE could have either appealed that to the Supreme Court, or immediately sought to have the order vacated. Either course of action would have opened other options that would have prevented the children from falling victim to further abuse.

In fact, the High Court order was only revoked on May 29, 2001 – seven months after the injunction, and a time window during which, the son in the recent criminal court case testified, his father began raping him. All the children were left in an extremely vulnerable situation during this time frame.

Much later, a full three years on, a supervision order was applied for in October 2004, at which point the children were taken into care, an interim care order was granted and proceedings finally began to pick up pace. Unfortunately for the children who had already endured an horrific ordeal, it was too little, too late.

These type of orders are granted on a daily basis by the District Court, and it is understood the report into the case will question why the health board/HSE failed to act with due speed and attention in the immediate aftermath of the High Court injunction. According to one well-placed source, the authorities may have been scared off somewhat by the fact that the matter had gone to the High Court, and were simply not muscular enough to tackle it head on.

The report is unlikely to name individuals, but one aspect of the case it is likely to probe is the role of individuals who had the power to intervene at various times but failed to do so.

The Irish Examiner understands that there is an overlap regarding some health board personnel in this case and also in the McColgan abuse case in Sligo, and possibly the Kelly Fitzgerald case in Mayo. The inquiry is likely to investigate whether figures in the health board, above those on the ground, such as social workers, could have acted earlier and more decisively, but simply failed to do so.

The consequences of these periods of inaction were catastrophic. It seems there was too much emphasis placed on supporting the family, instead of fulfilling a duty of care to the children in that family.

In speaking about the Tracey Fay case this week, Minister for Children Barry Andrews stressed that since those awful lapses in the care system, changes have been implemented which would mean it was unlikely the same fate could befall another child.

Arguably, changes that have taken place since the worst years of abuse in this case have also tightened up aspects of the system, but childcare experts believe there is still a need for greater co-operation and collaboration between agencies to ensure that no one else ever slips through the cracks.

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Saturday, March 06, 2010