HSE coverup feared

THE HSE was last night accused of moving to “whitewash” over the findings of a report into how a convicted sex offender was allowed to continue in his lecturing post.

Fine Gael education spokesperson Brian Hayes said only a fresh independent probe would uncover what went wrong in the case of Niall McElwee.

McElwee stayed in his childcare lecturing post at the Athlone Institute of Technology for two years after his conviction for attempted indecent assault of two young women, despite six state agencies knowing of his crime.

Mr Hayes said the catalogue of failure in the matter exposed by a report by Conal Devine last week was “shocking” and the HSE should not be left to decide what steps were needed to make sure it did not happen again.

“I fear the internal HSE review that has been put forward will end in little more than a whitewash.

“Six state agencies stood back and did nothing, despite knowing what this man had been convicted of. We need to find out how that happened and urgently.

“The best way to do that is through an independent review. Conal Devine, who carried out the report into the McElwee case, should be brought back to investigate why the Justice Department, Gardaí and other bodies did nothing to inform the institute about McElwee.”

An HSE spokesperson said the organisation was reflecting on the matter.

“The report has gone to our human resources department and they will decide what, if any action, needs to be taken,” the spokesperson said.

Children’s Minister Brendan Smith said the matter was “extremely regrettable” and he was calling a meeting of “stakeholders” in order to discuss its implications.