My involvement in Grace inquiry was 'utterly pointless', says whistleblower

The Farrelly commission of investigation report concluded that it was "not satisfied" that the evidence was such to fully establish sexual, emotional or physical abuse of Grace, despite concerns being raised about bruising and burn marks on her body and troubling behaviour, including stripping. File photo

A whistleblower in the Grace case says she regrets becoming involved in the commission of investigation and has accused the HSE of "defending the indefensible".

'Paula', a pseudonym given to the whistleblower who has since left social work, said she is in "no way comforted or in no way confident" the system has changed to protect vulnerable people, adding that raising her voice had been "utterly pointless".

It comes after fellow whistleblower Iain Smith warned others thinking of coming forward with concerns that "the State will try to crush you".

The Farrelly commission of investigation report into the Grace case found a "fundamental failure" by the South Eastern Health Board and the HSE in their duty of care to a severely intellectually disabled young woman in foster care.

However, the report concluded that it was "not satisfied" that the evidence was such to fully establish sexual, emotional or physical abuse of Grace, despite concerns being raised about bruising and burn marks on her body and troubling behaviour, including stripping.

Paula described the process of giving evidence as "horrendous" as she was called back again and again throughout the eight years of the investigation and cross-examined for days at a time.

Institutional parties funded by the taxpayer, including the HSE, chose, in my view, to go into that inquiry and to defend the indefensible.

Speaking on RTÉ's Claire Byrne, she said: "I think that the HSE and the people named in the report who failed Grace must be absolutely delighted this week by the narrative and the spin that's been pedalled.

"The system did not fail Grace here, people working in our health services failed Grace." Describing the report as "disappointing", she said: "I just couldn't understand how the facts of what occurred could be so sanitised in the findings in the report".

She said the legalistic language and structure of the 2,000-page report "suits the people who failed Grace".

"It suits the HSE, it suits those about whom findings have been made because they're just so hard to find. I'm just devastated for the families, I suppose, that all this time, all this money has been wasted on this type of a process."

She said she had been "caught off-guard" by the publication of the report this week, and was "really shocked" to learn that the families were left in the same position and were not contacted in advance.

The minister for children Norma Foley had contacted the commission chair Marjorie Farrelly to ask that she inform the families involved and those who gave evidence that the report would be published. However, this request was refused and instead it was suggested that the department issue a press release.