Foster care scandal: The drip-drip of misinformation and mistruth

How the story unfolded

• January 20

The story outlined how the HSE was severely criticised by leading members of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee over its failure to formally acknowledge the plight of victims up to that point and over its handling of the abuse.

Documents obtained by the Irish Examiner and based on a limited portion of the unpublished Devine Report into the case, sent to the PAC by the HSE before Christmas, revealed: “The HSE has made arrangements to meet with the service user who was the subject of the Devine report to apologise for the significant failings of the service in meeting the service user’s needs over such an extended period of time.”

It also emerged that between 1983 and 1995, 46 children were placed in foster care with the family in the South-East. in the south-east of the country. The recommendations of the Devine Report and the HSE response were also revealed.

• January 25

It was also reported gardaí were examining the possibility of taking a “reckless endangerment” case against specific HSE employees over the alleged abuse, after taking a formal statement from a whistleblower.

• January 26

“If I was health minister, I would (I hope) regard it as my paramount duty to find out what happened to Grace and how it happened,” he wrote.“I hope I would demand that every scrap of paper relating to Grace’s treatment was delivered to my office, and I hope I wouldn’t rest until I got to the bottom of how this was allowed to happen to a defenceless fellow citizen.”

• January 28

• January 30

In a statement on Saturday the HSE admits that “despite a clear intent to do so” no official apology was made to ‘Grace’ or her mother, or 46 other service users who had contact over the years with the foster home.

• February 1

Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan orders an investigation into allegations state employees may have acted in a criminal manner when placing vulnerable individuals with the foster family, after the PAC had sent a letter to the commissioner last week claiming social workers had raised concerns inside the health service about placements in the home.