Report on handling of abuse case not due until March

AN independent inquiry which began in 2010 into the HSE’s handling of an horrific familial abuse case in Co Galway, will not be completed until at least March 2012.

The case concerns eight siblings who were taken into care nine years after social workers first became aware of dysfunctional behaviour within the family, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

The review team of Dr Betty Walsh, Dr Eoin O’Sullivan and Susan Phelan have examined at least 42 files and they must prepare an objective impartial report for the HSE, which must then publish the report. The review began in September 2010, a year after the children were taken into care.

Details of the case emerged in court in Galway earlier this year when the woman at the centre of the case pleaded guilty to eight sample charges of assaulting, ill-treating and neglecting eight children from May 2002 to June 2009.

One daughter told gardaí their mother would lock them all in a confined space with no food and give them a wet sheet to sleep on for the night.

One child recalled how their mother often went away for a week at a time and they would have to beg food from neighbours.

In 2002, a social worker found the second-youngest daughter, who was born with physical disabilities, strapped into a filthy buggy. The room in which she was discovered was dirty, cold and strewn with nappies.

The 47-year-old mother also beat one of her sons with whips and sticks in a bid to make him appear disabled so that she could claim extra social welfare benefits. The children were only taken into care in 2009, despite the HSE admitting it was aware of the family in 2000.

The report will examine the HSE’s children and family services’ role in the case, make recommendations and develop an action plan for their implementation.