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.