Michael Noonan ‘didn’t want to know about sex abuse claims’

Finance Minister Michael Noonan “did not want” to know about sex abuse allegations involving children while he was health minister in the 1990s, a former Fine Gael colleague has claimed.

Barrister Garry O’Halloran, who is a former Fine Gael councillor and also a former chairman of the South Eastern Health Board accused Mr Noonan of “doing a runner” in 1997 from a meeting to discuss concerns about sex abuse involving children. Mr O’Halloran said he resigned from Fine Gael because of Mr Noonan’s actions.

The veteran minister is under fire amid the ongoing controversy about the mishandling of sexual abuse allegations at a foster home in Co Waterford by health officials as far back as 1995.