HSE apologises to three women left with foster family despite 'credible' disclosures of abuse

The HSE has apologised to three women at the centre of a foster care scandal in County Galway.

A Prime Time investigation has found they were left in the care of a foster family for a further four years after "credible" disclosures of abuse.

Keith Burke from Dunmore in County Galway was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison, with a year suspended, after he was found guilty of raping the then three foster children between 2003 and 2007.

Grainia Long from the ISPCC says there are serious questions to be answered.

Ms Long said: "These three women were failed as children from the fact that profound abuse was visited on them over a period of time in a place that should have been a place of safety."

- Digital Desk