Chair of Grace abuse probe to be announced
Health Minister Simon Harris and Disabilities Minister Finian McGrath are to seek cabinet permission to announce the appointment at Tuesday’s ministerial meeting, a week on from the publication of two long- delayed HSE reports into what happened. The appointment will mean the commission’s exact terms of reference can be published early next week, before being ratified by the Dáil and Seanad in the coming days. The commission, first promised by Taoiseach Enda Kenny in early February 2016, will be able to begin its work later this month.
As reported by the Irish Examiner, the commission is due to examine specific circumstances involving what happened to a woman given the pseudonym Grace, and 46 other people, at the facility between 1983 and October 2013. It will also examine repeated claims senior HSE officials involved in Grace’s care attempted to cover up what happened; the role of then health minister Michael Noonan; when the family were first registered as foster carers; and why people involved remain employed in senior HSE and Tusla roles.
