School dentist accused of sex abuse
The dentist was working in special needs services, as well as on the school dental programme during the 1960s and 1970s.
According to information obtained by the Irish Examiner, victims had sought a full “look back” investigation to determine if other former patients had been assaulted by him. They considered such a move urgent as initial inquiries by the health board revealed the dentist had sole care of up to 600 children.
Up to 10 complaints have been made to the health board against the dentist since 1986. Eight complaints were made to gardaí. The health board made settlements with victims in a number of civil cases.
The Irish Examiner has seen Freedom of Information documentation released to one victim, which states that the dentist’s colleagues told the board he had asked to treat patients without their parents being present.
The FoI information also shows one of the investigating gardaí described efforts to obtain information from the health board as “like pulling teeth”.
Despite the litany of complaints, the health board refused to launch an inquiry. The complaints include:
- 1986: First complaint. The then health board said it did not report the first complaint of child sexual abuse to gardaí as per the wishes of the girl’s mother.
- 1995: Further complaints, but the health board justifies its reluctance to complete a trawl on the grounds the ex-employee had been too long gone from the health board.
- 2000: An internal investigation group was set up by the health board to examine complaints to date. The group recommended that, due to the large numbers involved, a look back or extensive trawl through former patients was not to be recommended, as past patients could only be contacted by public advertisement. It also said such a trawl could identify the dentist and “the amount of upset that would be caused to former patients outweighs the potential gain from such a process”.
The dentist resigned with guarantee of a full pension upon retirement and neither the gardaí nor the Irish Dental Association was ever told of the complaint to the health board. It was another 10 years before he was taken off the dental register.
One victim, Margaret, said: “There are such questions remaining about how the health board handled this case and protected that man. They did not want to fully investigate this scandal.
“Initially, when I went to one of the most senior managers in the health board, he said his predecessor had warned him about this case when he took over the job. But questions also need to be asked of the DPP’s office. There were eight complaints, all showing similarities and similar experiences, and still he never brought charges against that man. It was a total disgrace.”
A spokeswoman for the HSE denied it had failed in its child protection role by not trying to establish if there were more victims.
“Individual cases were all reviewed and dealt with at the time,” she said.
She said it had completed a “review of the files” last year “to ensure all appropriate services and supports have been, and continue to be provided to the people involved”. A number of the women have received counselling from the HSE.
“The former health board provided full co-operation to the Garda in these cases, as it does in all such cases. No complaint was received from the Garda,” the spokeswoman said.
- Harbour Counselling Service, which is free: 1800 234 116, Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 5pm.
