Taoiseach questions €13m Grace inquiry findings and future of costly State commissions
Taoiseach Micheál Martin also said that €500m has been spent on inquiries since 1998. Picture: Niall Carson/PA
The Taoiseach has said there is now a need to "fundamentally reflect" on costly and lengthy commissions of investigation which come up with "deeply unsatisfactory" findings.
It comes as a whistleblower in the Grace case has warned others thinking of coming forward with concerns that "the State will try to crush you", in a strongly worded criticism of the final Farrelly Commission report.
The report, which took eight years at a cost of €13.6m so far, found a "fundamental failure" by the South Eastern Health Board and the HSE in their duty of care to Grace, a severely intellectually disabled young woman.
However, the final substantive report concluded that it was "not satisfied" that the level of evidence was such to fully establish sexual, emotional, or physical abuse of Grace during her time in the foster home in the south east, despite concerns around bruising and disturbing behaviour being raised by whistleblowers.
Micheál Martin has now signalled that the commission of investigation model, which has been criticised in the past in relation to other probes including the mother and baby home inquiry, should be abandoned.
"We do need to fundamentally reflect on how we're doing these inquiries, the effectiveness of them, and whether there's a better way of getting to the truth," Mr Martin said, adding that €500m has been spent on such inquiries since 1998.
While the commission found that Grace had been subjected to severe neglect, citing the fact that she needed seven teeth extracted, Mr Martin said "far more serious allegations" had been made which gave rise to the Commission being established.
"They have not been upheld, so to speak, or the language is that no evidence has been found, so that for all concerned, has to be deeply unsatisfactory," he told Newstalk radio.
Children's Minister Norma Foley, who this week published the final report, also expressed frustration with the way in which the commission carried out its work. She has also taken issue with the lack of an executive summary which would have made the 2,000-page report more "accessible".
Ms Foley outlined how she had asked commission chair Marjorie Farrelly to contact the families of 47 others who had stayed in the foster home as well as those who gave evidence in advance of publication, but this request was denied and it was suggested that a press release be sent out instead.
Meanwhile, Children's Ombudsman Niall Muldoon has called for a system of open disclosure in such cases, claiming that it was "chilling" and "horrible" that people raising concerns would be put in the position which whistleblower Iain Smith outlined.
“What he’s saying there is that the system is built around protecting the system, and that’s not the way it should be," Mr Muldoon said.
Mr Smith, who first became aware of Grace in 2007 as a social work manager, said the handling of the case and his interaction with the commission creates a "very strong deterrent to whistleblowers in Ireland."
"The State can crush you, the State will try to crush you," he told RTÉ radio.
Mr Smith said he had contacted Simon Harris when, after taking part in the inquiry's more than 700 hours of questioning and cross-examination, he realised that it was "a complete waste of time".
“I wrote to Simon Harris in May 2019 saying the whole thing should be shut down, because it was obvious to me then, and I told him then, that it was, I described it to him as a boondoggle, a complete waste of time, a project that is going absolutely nowhere, and I could see that very clearly way back then."
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