Review of Laffoy ‘not department’s role’

OPPOSITION parties have called for the Department of Education to be prevented from conducting a review of the Laffoy Commission amid claims that some of its officials were aware of abuse of children in State institutions since the 1960s.

Fine Gael and Labour yesterday argued that the department’s knowledge of such incidents should preclude it from any further role in reviewing the commission’s workings because it created a major conflict of interest. It followed a report in the Sunday Business Post that the Laffoy Commission had uncovered evidence that senior civil servants in the Department of Education knew that children in State-run homes were being abused by paedophiles over several decades.

It alleged that no action was taken to remove known abusers. It also claimed that other departmental files appear to be missing or incomplete.