Senior officials in the HSE and State Child and Family Agency Tusla linked to the ‘Grace’ foster abuse scandal should temporarily step down pending the outcome of the imminent State inquiry into the controversy, it has been claimed.

A long-delayed state inquiry into the ‘Grace’ foster abuse scandal is set to begin within weeks after an independent report into the controversy was finally published last night.

The author of the State-sanctioned report into the Grace foster abuse scandal, senior counsel Conor Dignam has called for the now imminent commission of inquiry into the case to include a series of specific issues.

The whistleblower who first highlighted the Grace foster abuse scandal has welcomed the fact a State inquiry is now set to occur into her belief that the case was covered up by health service officials.