Grace files: Enda Kenny unable to answer key questions

Enda Kenny said the treatment of Grace was ‘a disgrace to us, as a country’.

Grace files: Enda Kenny unable to answer key questions

The Taoiseach has come under pressure to immediately clarify a list of unanswered questions coming out of the Grace inquiry.

Enda Kenny was grilled on two reports published yesterday, detailing the horrifying litany of abuse suffered by ‘Grace’ over a 20-year period while she was in foster care.

The reports highlighted catastrophic failures by health officials, including an instance where the intellectually disabled girl was sent back to her foster home after being hospitalised for bruising on her thighs and breasts, as there was confusion as to what to do with her.

Mr Kenny yesterday apologised in the Dáil to Grace and her family and said her treatment “is a disgrace to us, as a country” and added that the reports speak for themselves.

However, he was unable to answer a number of questions raised by TDs. This promoted the opposition to demand that Mr Kenny, as leader of the Government, meet his responsibility and obtain answers immediately.

Roisin Shortall of the Social Democrats asked whether some of central people who contributed to serious failures around the care of Grace are still working.

“Is it not entirely possible that some of those same people who were involved in decisions concerning the care of Grace are still involved in child protection services? Can the Taoiseach give a guarantee here today that none of those people are currently involved in child protection?” she asked.

Although Mr Kenny described her questions as “very pertinent” and “germane” he said he did not have the information in respect of personnel who were working at that time and whether they are still working in the childcare area.

He said the questions raised would “central to the commission of investigation that has been set up for that very purpose”.

Both Ms Shortall and Sinn Féin’s Mary-Lou McDonald pressed Mr Kenny on the role of the gardaí, whether there had been any arrests, whether there is a current criminal investigation in respect of reckless endangerment involving those people responsible for taking key decisions involving the care of Grace?

Ms Shortall said politicians were yet again discussing “yet another scandal”, which this time involved the “most horrific treatment” of a vulnerable person.

Again, Mr Kenny said he could not say whether there is a criminal investigation still going on.

Responding to questions pose by Ms McDonald around a criminal investigation, the Taoiseach said: “That is a matter for the Garda Commissioner and the Minister for Justice to report on. I do not have that information in respect of arrests following any criminal activity or case that was being pursued.

Ms Shortall hit back by telling Mr Kenny: “These questions are central and germane and they can be answered now, if your Ministers took the trouble to ask the questions and they had the legal power to insist on getting answers.

“As leader of this Government, the Taoiseach has a clear responsibility to find out what the current situation is.

"I asked him if he could give us a guarantee that none of the people involved in decision making around the Grace case are currently involved in child protection services.”

She added that Mr Kenny would have the power to find all the information out today if he had a will to do so.

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